<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Love At Second Sight by loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204227">Love At Second Sight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS/pseuds/loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS'>loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 + 1 Things, Canon Setting, Dialogue Heavy, Doctor/Patient, F/M, Lance (Voltron) is a Dork, No Galactic War, No Voltron Lions, Pidge | Katie Holt is So Done, Soft Plance, descriptions of injuries, falling fast, light floof, meet ugly, pidge being confused by lance for however many K words, soft angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:48:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>56,677</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204227</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS/pseuds/loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p> “I swear you’re faking injuries just so you have an excuse to come to the med bay.”</p>
  <p>“How else will I get my cute nurse to talk to me?”</p>
  <p>“I’m gonna smother your damn face with a pillow.” </p>
</blockquote><p>aka the five times Lance annoyed Katie and the one time he <i>really</i> annoyed her</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lance/Pidge (Voltron), Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>147</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>normally i like to write out the entirety of stories like this all at once but vacation is over and i'm rusty and i need to get my daily writing brain back</p><p>also expect smut in this <strike>what else is new</strike></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, Keith,” Katie said, skimming his lab results on her holographic tablet, “you’ve successfully cleared any and all contaminants from your system. One of the nurses is going to check your blood pressure once more and then you’ll be good to go. We’ll have your discharge summary at the front desk when you head out.”</p><p>“Thanks, Pidge.” Keith slipped back on his shirt with a grunt, taking care not to brush the dressing covering the stitches on his side. “Can always count on you.”</p><p>“Yeah, of course. Happy to help.” She ducked her head a bit to hide the slight blush on her cheeks as she tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “Don’t hesitate to stop by again if you need anything at all from me.”</p><p>“Will do.” He smiled, eyes crinkling with warmth as he lifted his indigo gaze back to hers, and Katie fought hard to keep herself from fidgeting with the hem of her blouse. His gaze always made her nervous. “So how have you been? I remember you told me you and your mom were conducting trials with those lilies discovered on Daibazaal. How’s that going?”</p><p>“That was a month ago. You remembered we were doing that?”</p><p>“How could I forget?” Keith drawled, a teasing smirk lifting the corners of his mouth as he finished pulling on his boots. He sat up slowly and tied his hair back in its low ponytail. “You rambled drunkenly about it for four hours and wouldn’t let me go home.”</p><p>“Not my problem. I warned you in advance, and you said you still wanted to hear it.” Katie flipped him off with a dry look. “My rambling is a work of art in and of itself. And if you must know, we were able to figure out its function as—”</p><p>There was a knock on the door of Keith’s med bay room, and Head Nurse Merla poked her head in as Keith and Katie glanced at her.</p><p>“Katie, you got a bit of time?” She gestured with her thumb over her shoulder. “Need your help with someone. They’re a bit… <em>difficult</em>. And particular.”</p><p>“I guess I could…” Katie hesitated as she eyed Keith, but he waved off her concern.</p><p>“I know you’re busy. We’ll catch up some other time.”</p><p>With a quick wave, Katie followed Merla out of the room though her smile dropped off her face with a sigh as her mood plummeted. She hated dealing with the idiots, but she was the only one with enough authority who could afford to put them in their place. And it wasn’t just that difficult patients were annoying as hell to handle.</p><p>This was the one time she’d had a chance to speak to Keith in a very long time and her time had gotten cut short. As a captain, Keith was so often gone on long missions out in space or using vacation days to visit his mother, which meant their conversations were limited to begin with. They ran into each other on and off, but there’d once been a three year chunk of time she hadn’t seen him and so she took what moments she could get whenever she saw him now.</p><p>And ten-year-running private crush notwithstanding, Keith was her best friend. Since their careers prevented them from spending more quality time together, she’d really been hoping they could chat for a while since he was <em>supposed</em> <em>to be</em> her last patient of the day.</p><p>Her mood was sufficiently darkened by the time she approached the front desk, and she intended to give whoever this patient was a piece of her mind.</p><p>And she had her suspicions, namely in the form of one arrogant pilot with an infectious grin.</p><p>(Who she had an embarrassing infatuation with for a year back when they were teens).</p><p>Nadia was leaning against the front desk flirting with one of the nurses while she waited for her discharge summary to be printed. Her face lit up when she spotted Katie, and she skipped over to her and glomped her from behind.</p><p>“Pidgey…” Nadia whined, sagging her weight on her back to prevent her from moving. “I was here the same twenty-four hours as Keith. How come you spent more time monitoring him than me?”</p><p>“I see your doofy face every day, Riz. We share a condo.” Katie sighed, eyeing Merla as the nurse rounded the corner of the desk with tablet two. “Plus you’re getting discharged today.”</p><p>“We should get cake anyway. Celebrate my neck not being broken.” Nadia pointed to her brace-encased neck as she stood to her full height. “Plus I’ve been ordered to take a break from flying for the next two weeks, so I need pampering. You owe me.”</p><p>“How the hell do you figure that?”</p><p>“Because I asked you to water the plants while I was gone and you didn’t, and now we have five dead plants in our home. If those were our kids, you would have killed them. Did you even go home for the last month?”</p><p>Honestly, she’d been so preoccupied with her research improving the regenerative properties of her nano film prototypes that she’d pretty much lived in her lab.</p><p>“Okay. You win.” Katie signed off on Keith’s notes and set her tablet down to take the one Merla handed her. She was only supposed to be working today with the patients who’d cleared their contaminant screening so this was an unpleasant change to her plans. “I’ll go pick something up on the way home.”</p><p>“With mango,” Nadia reminded her with a triumphant grin. She picked up her papers from the counter with a wink at the blushing nurse as she sauntered out to leave the med bay. “Oh, get some wine too. Ina’s coming over tonight and says she’ll pay you back. See you all later~”</p><p>Katie absentmindedly waved her off as she pulled up the files for non-infectious patients and walk-ins that day. She may have been a backup medic for the garrison’s med bay, but generally she only worked half the days of the week to monitor any patients who had concerns with the nano tech or needed to be de-contaminated after deep-space trips. Or if the bay was completely backed up.</p><p>And none of those situations applied to this whingeing fool.</p><p>“Allura can’t see this last patient, but he keeps requesting her,” Merla mentioned offhand, heading back behind the front desk to complete Keith’s discharge. “I stuck him in Room 5.I know it’s for critical care, but I figured it’d be a quick in-out so.”</p><p>“Did you tell him that—”</p><p>“Yupp.”</p><p>“What about—”</p><p>“That too. I was considering just giving him what he wanted to shut him up, but…” She gave Katie a wry smile. “She’s got her hands full in the OR with a punctured lung, so I don’t know when she’ll be done. You’re the only one who can deal with the idiots who come in here just to drool over Allura. He’s pretty persistent.”</p><p>Katie pinched the bridge of her nose as she growled under her breath. Allura could regenerate tissue damage and expedite healing if the damage wasn’t too extensive, but she was untrained so she had limits to what she could do. Even so, her treatments were quick and insanely successful with a very high rate of full recovery and painless to boot. Their med bay was lucky she visited Earth often and was sticking around for a little while, but they weren’t going to have her around forever and getting complacent with treatment methods would make them lose their efficiency in treating others. It was why Katie and her team were busting ass trying to emulate the same healing processes from Allura’s natural alchemy so they wouldn’t have to rely on her for so many difficult cases. She was only one woman, and Katie felt bad they worked her so hard.</p><p>But the number one reason a lot of patients kept requesting her as their medic was because the Altean woman was scarily stunning—Katie herself had gotten tongue-tied the first time she met the princess—but they had to make sure they only used her as a response to seriously injured or infected individuals.</p><p>But there was one dillhole who apparently kept requesting care from Allura.</p><p>“Why can’t you guys just tough it up and tell him to stop for once? I’m here only two days of the week so why am I dealing with 100% of the difficult patients?”</p><p>“Because. He brings flowers, and I like the flowers decorating this dreary place. We really appreciate you playing the bad guy all the time.”</p><p>“Man, whatever. You lot are just scared of people not liking you.”</p><p>Merla put her hand on Katie’s shoulder with a small smirk and squeezed. “Which is precisely why we have <em>you</em> do it! Glad we’re on the same page.”</p><p>“Who is this chump anyway?” she grumbled, knowing damn well what the response was about to be.</p><p>“Lance. Who else?” another nurse responded with a giggle as she paused by the desk to hook her tablet to its cord to charge it up during her break. She was grinning kind of goofy though. “He gave me a <em>personal </em>flower today though. You know, I used to think he was kind of annoying years ago, but he’s gotten really cute.”</p><p>“A <em>lot</em> cute,” the receptionist said as she plopped back into her chair. “McClains have great genes. If only I were fifteen years younger.”</p><p>“Yeah, cute,” Katie drawled with an incredulous snort. “Except for the obnoxious ass behaviour.”</p><p>And it was true. For the past several days he’d apparently come to the med bay with requests to be treated and always wanted to set up appointments with just Allura. He was attractive—annoyingly so since his glow up in their early twenties—but that was easily ignorable considering he was a nuisance through and through. And looking through his list of previous visits, most of his complaints were for things he could easily take care of himself. From what she’d heard from the nurses before, if he wasn’t pretending to possibly have a cold, it was some bruise or a fake ass sprain.</p><p>She was stopping this mess today.</p><p>“I’m heading off,” Katie said, pretending to crack her neck. “Wish me luck.”</p><p>“Godspeed, soldier…” Merla pretended to sniffle and wipe tears from her eyes.</p><p>Everyone near the front desk saluted Katie seriously, barely concealed smiles on their faces, and she shook her head as she headed down the hall to Room 5. She pushed open Lance’s room door, lips turned down as she walked in and ready to tell him what was what.</p><p>“Hello~ my lovely prin…” Lance scrambled up from his seat on the bed when she walked in, but the moment he realised it was her, his face fell in total disinterest. “Again? You’re not Allura.”</p><p>What a blockhead.</p><p>“First of all, she’s a <em>healer</em>. You don’t need to be healed for a pressing circumstance, you don’t need to see Allura. That’s how it works. Second, she’s busy. And third, I'm here to treat whatever condition you have today, so deal with it. You can either accept my help or go home. Your choice.”</p><p>“I had a question to ask her.” He sulked, looking cross as he plopped back down on the side of the hospital bed, and Katie rolled her eyes as she lifted up his holographic chart and skimmed his vitals today. Was this moron actually pouting? “Fine, I’m Lance—”</p><p>“I know who you are. Your name is on this chart. And we’ve met before.”</p><p>“We have?”</p><p>“Yes.” She set her hand on her cocked hip and glowered down at him. “When I first started at the garrison. I was in the year below you and you were my group’s accountability mentor in the first week to help us get used to the garrison. And we worked together once in your third year.”</p><p>“Huh.” He tilted his head, scrutinising her with furrowed brows as if trying to recall certain features of her visage. “I don’t, uh… remember you?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t think so, seeing as how you mistook me for a boy. <em>Twice</em>.”</p><p>“Well that’s—”</p><p>“Awkward? Imagine how I felt.” She dragged the rolling stool in front of him and sat down, intending to get through this as fast as possible. There was absolutely no reason to get stuck dealing with him for longer than she had to. It’d been embarrassing and annoying, and try as she might to forget it, it was something that had coloured her schooling and every subsequent time she’d seen him in shades of red. It still pissed her off that she was bothered by it, even ten years later. “Let’s just get this shit done and over with so you’re out of my hair sooner. I’m sure you don’t want to be speaking with me anymore than I want to converse with you. I could have been in my lab right now…”</p><p>Or talking to Keith.</p><p>“That’s some great bedside manner you’ve got there,” Lance drawled sarcastically as he rested his forearms on his knees. “Real quality work. I definitely feel cherished as a patient.”</p><p>She ignored the quips. “It says here you had two near fainting spells during training? Your blood pressure reading is normal.”</p><p>“I’ve felt a little dizzy all day. Nothing major.”</p><p>“Define <em>dizzy</em>. That could mean literally anything.”</p><p>His eyes narrowed. “I felt like I couldn’t fully catch my breath when I was training. And my head is woozy.”</p><p>“So general lightheadedness and shortness of breath; got it. I’ll draw blood and then we can send you on your merry way because I’m sure like <em>everything</em> <em>else</em> this past week, this is a non-issue. It’s probably just low blood sugar.” She shook her head in disgust as she jotted down his symptoms. “I swear you’re faking injuries just so you have an excuse to come to the med bay.”</p><p>He shrugged, an unbothered smile on his lips, and Katie’s rage meter ticked up a couple notches.</p><p>“How else will I get my cute nurse to talk to me?”</p><p>“I’m gonna smother your damn face with a pillow.”</p><p>“Wow, you are the absolute least cute nurse I have ever seen in my life. And a total grump to boot. I was just kidding.” She didn’t bother sparing him a glance as she updated his note and heard Lance let out an incredulous huff. “If Allura was taking care of me, she would actually <em>be</em> caring. Nicer on the eyes too…”</p><p>“I’m not a nurse. I’m a backup medic.” Katie pulled forward her badge clipped to her lab coat’s pocket and tapped her photo irately with her nail. “And I’m Katie Holt, tech specialist and the garrison’s chief clinical researcher of alien tech. You’d think you’d have the decency to at least recognise—and <em>thank</em>—the person responsible for keeping you alive in space with my inventions. I shouldn’t even have to treat you because this isn’t my department, but you’ve made things so difficult for the other nurses they had to call me in.”</p><p>“I’d still rather have a nurse treat me than some asshole doc, so why are you here? Why can’t Allura just treat me? We’re supposed to have this fabulous love story, and you’re fucking up the thirtieth meet cute I’ve worked so diligently to arrange with my soulmate.”</p><p>“Because she’s taking care of patients with <em>actual</em> serious injuries who <em>actually</em> need the help!” she barked at him. “You’re taking up our space and resources!”</p><p>He bristled. “<em>What</em>? There are no other people looking to get treated this late!”</p><p>“Maybe because <em>your</em> stupid ass blocked an appointment!”</p><p>“Uh… hey?” Keith knocked on the open doorframe, and Katie spun to face him in surprise with a soft gasp. He looked like he was about to die laughing, and she felt her cheeks rouge from the fact that he’d seen her lose her cool so ridiculously. “Didn’t mean to interrupt, but your voice is carrying down the hall. I just got my blood pressure checked and I’ve been discharged, so I’m gonna take off.”</p><p>“Oh…” She cleared her throat and stood up, straightening out her shirt as she walked over to him. “You’re leaving so soon?”</p><p>“Yeah. You know how it is. Gotta prep for my next recon mission.”</p><p>“Classified business?”</p><p>“Not totally. I’ll tell you all about it when we’re done; I’ll probably be gone for a couple weeks this time though. But I’m sure I’ll end up right back here when I return.”</p><p>“I hope so…” Katie said softly, chewing on her lower lip to stop the goofy smile from overtaking her face. Keith quirked a brow. “I— I mean, I hope I get the chance to see you! Not that you’re hurt and need a physical for broken shit or something! Cuz you’re such a fantastic patient, you know?”</p><p>“Uh-huh. Whatever you say.” He ruffled her hair with a fond look, and she swatted his hands away before he made her unfortunate poodle head of hair frizz up. “Drinks when I get back?”</p><p>“As long as you’re paying. Safe travels, Keith.”</p><p>“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” He nodded towards Lance as he slung his jacket over his shoulder. “McClain.”</p><p>“Mullet.”</p><p>Katie stared after Keith when he left the room, another sigh leaving her lips as she closed the room door. She wanted to bash her head against the wall for acting so dorky and uncool around him. Talking to him wasn’t an issue, but sometimes she got so tongue-twisted and acted like an idiot, and in those moments, she was sure he would figure out she was crushing on him. One would think after this long of being friends, she’d get used to it, but the older they got, the worse she got at hiding it.</p><p>“Well, well, well. You like Keith,” Lance suddenly said, the smile in his voice obvious. “Looks like the tinman has a heart after all.”</p><p>She’d almost forgotten he was even there in the first place. Though her neck flushed, Katie diligently ignored him, moving to wash her hands and get what she needed from the drawers to draw blood. He watched her as she pulled on gloves, an oddly shit-eating look of triumph in his expression as she wrapped an elastic band tight around his arm. She was hoping after them butting heads, he’d stay shut up, but she had no such luck.</p><p>“Hate to break it to you, but Keith is in a relationship.”</p><p>“Hate to break it to <em>you</em>, but no. He’s <em>not</em>.” She scoffed and cleaned the inside of his elbow with the antiseptic wipe. He stared as she carefully pushed the needle through to pierce the vein and let the suction of the vial fill it with blood. “I’ve known him for years. He would have told me.”</p><p>“I’ve known him for years too. It’s true. He’s engaged. He just can’t announce his relationship for privacy reasons and the whole garrison fraternisation policy. You can ask him if you don’t believe me.” Lance clearly found it amusing for whatever reason. “That’s gotta sting though. Finding out your crush is taken.”</p><p>She didn’t want to believe him, but as much of a dick as he was, something told her he wasn’t the type of dick to go around making outlandish claims and spreading false rumours. Wherever he’d gotten that information from, it couldn’t be false. And the more she thought about it, the more she realised for how many times she’d hung out with Keith, she’d never actually been to his place. He never mentioned anything either about relationships when they talked about it. If anything, he seemed to try to change the subject pretty quickly.</p><p>And the realisation that Lance was probably right was kind of devastating.</p><p>It wasn’t even the fact that Keith probably <em>was</em> with someone. It was the way Lance diminished her feelings like they were nothing but a schoolgirl crush. He was making fun of her, and it was infuriating.</p><p>Just as infuriating as being completely forgotten by Lance and referred to as a dude <em>again</em> in the span of one year. A grudge she had yet to relinquish.</p><p>Katie stayed silent as she pulled away the vial and carefully drew out the needle while applying pressure with a gauze pad. She wrapped a bandage tightly around his elbow and then dumped the needle in the biohazard bin.</p><p>“Keep the pressure on it for about fifteen minutes,” she said through grit teeth. “We’ll run a blood count test with the sample and get back to you with the results.”</p><p>Her goal was to get this over and done with and never have to deal with Lance McClain again, except he had to open his mouth again.</p><p>“You kinda look like your whole life got punked or something.”</p><p>And had the audacity to laugh.</p><p>Her fury boiled over before she could even try to calm her temper down.</p><p>“You think that shit’s funny?” Katie snapped the elastic band off his arm far more sharply than she needed to. Even hearing his yelp of pain didn’t bring any satisfaction. “At least I’m useful to Keith! What the fuck do you have to offer Allura? You’re an idiot with no notable flight skills, and you’ve been stuck as a cargo pilot lieutenant for years! Keith, Hunk, Ryan, and James were in your graduating class and they’re all well ahead of you now. Must be sad being the failure of your class. And for your information, Allura is <em>married</em>, yeah? To an Altean who’s an actual catch, so you’ve absolutely no chance.”</p><p>She’d watched Lance grow more and more wide eyed through it all, absolute shock slackening his jaw by the end of her tirade, but she didn’t wait for him to respond before snatching up his blood sample and storming out of the room.</p><p>What a complete and utter ass.</p><p>Katie kind of felt like shit for saying something that nasty, but she was angry and he deserved it. But after bringing his blood to the lab, her anger subsided, and she was left instead with immense guilt from the low blow. Especially when she recalled the hurt behind Lance’s surprise.</p><p>And even worse was when the blood panel results were significant for anaemia.</p><p>There was an underlying cause that needed to be checked.</p><p>Katie rushed back through his old lab panels in his health records with furrowed brows. The low red blood cell count was very abnormal for him, save for one incident three months ago when his cargo ship had gotten attacked in space while he’d tried to distract the assailants so his team could get to safety. He’d recovered from that injury, a deep wound in his side that had torn his diaphragm. Allura had actually treated him then, but he’d never had a chance to follow-up with her. She’d requested if he ever started having some symptoms he believed were related to his old injury, to come see her.</p><p>Something Katie had missed entirely because she’d been so busy ready to fight him just because he’d annoyed them.</p><p>“Fuck…”</p><p>Katie tapped her fingers on the table as she brought back up his chart to order a CT scan. That resolved one thing, but she wasn’t sure what she could do to make up for the other nasty part. From what she remembered, Lance was the kind of guy who put too much stock in his image and compared himself to others all the time. She’d probably bullseyed an insecurity of his.</p><p>She did remember something about Lance being upset about being placed in the cargo pilot programme back when they were in their teens. And he’d kept whining to Hunk about being so close or something.</p><p>On a whim, Katie shifted to her main desktop and pulled up the garrison’s student database. A search for Lance popped up as archived, and she got an idea. She tapped into her old hacker habits, a nostalgic smile on her face as she dug around for the specific file she was looking for.</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>“In short, you’re pretty anaemic, so we’re going to run more blood tests and observe you to check for any internal bleeding to make sure your old injury didn’t open back up or something. Allura’s going to come inspect your injury as well once she’s done working on her other patient. In the meantime, you’ll be receiving a chest CT scan. If we need an ultrasound of your abdomen, we’ll do so as well. So I’d get comfortable since you might have to wait for a couple hours. But it looks like you get to see your favourite nurse after all.”</p><p>He nodded, but didn’t say anything in response. Katie was unnerved by his silence, especially when he was talking too much before. She shifted the manila folder to her other hand.</p><p>“Any questions for me?”</p><p>Lance leaned back on the pillows against the headboard, kicking his legs up on the bed. “I’m just getting a scan done before Allura stops by, right?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Then no.” He looked away, clearly dismissing her. “Thanks for the heads up.”</p><p>Katie bunched the fabric of her lab coat in her fists for a moment, and then loosened it with a sigh. “I know I was harsh—”</p><p>“Yeah, no kidding.” Lance scoffed, looking cross as he folded his arms over his chest. “Sorry for poking at your crush, but it was just some lighthearted teasing. No need to go nuclear.”</p><p>“It’s not lighthearted teasing to me, okay?” She scowled at him. “Stop making light of my feelings!”</p><p>“Jesus, calm the frick down; I was just playing—”</p><p>“What part of you doesn’t get that there is literally no reason for you to be making careless comments about sensitive topics! Keith was my first friend before I started at the Garrison, and we met when my brother went on the Kerberos mission with Shiro and my dad. That mission lasted <em>two</em> <em>years</em>, Lance, and Keith was there for me since he knew what it felt like to have no communication and little contact for so long a time with people we cared about. So shut the fuck up; your arrogance is the farthest thing from funny.”</p><p>A muscle ticked in Lance’s jaw as his frown deepened. “The Kerberos mission was like twelve years ago! It’s not my fault you’ve been holding on to the crush for that long. You need to chillax, man.”</p><p>“Don’t act like you haven’t been pining for Allura for years since she travelled to Earth! She is 100% out of your league. You’re being an ass about my situation, but how is yours any different?! At least I’ve spent time enough with Keith to <em>know</em> him. You saw a princess, got starstruck, and turned into just another fanboy like every other person here making googly eyes at her.”</p><p>Lance opened his mouth and then shut it, though the indignance in his glower remained.</p><p>“Look.” She planted her hands on her hips. “That shit about your piloting <em>was</em> unwarranted. But act like a dick, and you’ll get dick behaviour in return. Maybe you should consider that.”</p><p>“Consider it considered,” he responded dryly. “Anything else so we can finally put an end to this unpleasant conversation?”</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>.”</p><p>Lance looked ready to object, but she tossed the folder in her hands at him. He picked it up when it landed on his lap, his confusion evident as he opened the cover.</p><p>“What is—”</p><p>“I dug up your aptitude scores on the specialisation examination for the fighter pilot department years back. 87<sup>th</sup> percentile. Your total score put you at sixteen on the list, one spot out from making the programme.”</p><p>That definitely got his attention.</p><p>He flipped through the first few pages and then his gaze snapped up to hers in alarm.</p><p>“How the hell did you get my scores?”</p><p>“I hacked it, and yes, I know it’s illegal. I don’t care.” She shook off his affronted and scandalised look. “My point is, you only didn’t make it by one place because your exam paper was littered with careless mistakes and errors in understanding concepts. You were 4<sup>th</sup> overall in flight simulation, which is pretty impressive. That doesn’t make you wildly inadequate, you know? It means you have the skills for it.”</p><p>“I didn’t make the fighter pilot programme. Clearly,” he stated, the undertone of a bitter regret in his voice a clear sign it was something he hadn’t let go of in all these years.</p><p>Just as she’d suspected.</p><p>“Yes, clearly.” She nodded, gesturing to the file. “Because you put too much emphasis in the action part of it and put no time into studying the concepts, theories, and terms. The only reason you didn’t fail the written exam is because you got a perfect score on operation strategy. Hell, considering your personality, I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t study at all and thought you could wing it or impress them with your flying in hopes they wouldn’t care about anything else. An idiotic mistake, really, considering you probably would have made it otherwise.”</p><p>His brow twitched and judging by the way the tips his ears burned red, she knew she was right on the money about how he’d approached the career-deciding exam.</p><p>“I suggest if you’re not trying to make captain in cargo, go for a switch to fighter pilot.” Lance brought his flabbergasted gaze back up to hers and she shrugged. “Why not? It’s clear you want to. It’ll be harder because you’re years removed from post-secondary training, so you need to study and you need to study hard. You only get one shot for re-tests for switching career tracks. And it has to be 98<sup>th</sup> percentile or higher.”</p><p>“Basically perfect…” Lance muttered, still scrutinising her with narrowed eyes like he couldn’t quite figure her out.</p><p>“You’re smart enough to make it. You have flight experience. You just have to take all aspects of this seriously.” Katie grunted as she stood up from the stool to get back to her lab. “Someone will be in shortly to get you to radiology.”</p><p>Lance rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze dropping down to the open file on his lap as he stared at it pensively. When he didn’t respond for several awkward seconds of Katie standing there, she took that as a sign that maybe it was time to go. She headed to the door to get on with her concluding work for the day, but as she turned the handle, Lance finally spoke, his voice hushed.</p><p>“Why’d you bring this here?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I mean, what’s in it for you to dig up something from so long ago and then suggest <em>this</em>? One could make an argument you’re trying to be nice.” Lance set the file beside him and folded his hands on his lap. “But <em>nice</em>? Doesn’t seem like it’s in your DNA, to be honest.”</p><p>Katie peered over her shoulder and wrinkled her nose at him. “It’s an apology.”</p><p>“Most people just say sorry instead of committing illegal activities.”</p><p>“My way is more productive. And you’re wrong. It’s <em>sorry</em> that isn’t programmed in my DNA.”</p><p>She could have sworn she saw his lips twitch up as if he was fighting a smile, but Lance went back to staring at the file as he scratched at his scruff, and she used that as an opportunity to conclude this interaction.</p><p>She’d done what she came to do; she was wiping her hands of it.</p><p>And she didn’t think about it at all anymore until much later, when Merla entered with another blood sample while Katie was directing the night shift lab technicians on what needed to be done before she left. She handed off the sample to one of the techs and then set the file Katie had given Lance by her keyboard.</p><p>“Lance sends his regard. Wanted me to give this back to you too with the message that he appreciates your apology, but doesn’t accept it. Said something about using words like a big girl.”</p><p>“Doesn’t accept— What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Katie frowned as she looked away from the screen. “Ass.”</p><p>“He seemed in a pretty good mood.” Merla shrugged through a yawn. “Inside joke?”</p><p>“Not that I’m aware of…”</p><p>“Anyway, thanks for pacifying him. He was compliant the whole time; didn’t ask about Allura once. What’d you do?”</p><p>“I did what you asked.” Plus yelled at him and insulted him a bit, but no one needed to know that part.</p><p>“See? This is why we rely on you.”</p><p>Katie rolled her eyes in exasperation as Merla blew her a kiss and left the lab, though she was confused by Lance’s response. What was his deal? She made it up to him, didn’t she? Why couldn’t he just take her peace offering and leave well enough alone? She didn’t get him.</p><p>It didn’t matter anyway.</p><p>Hopefully after this, she’d never have to deal with him again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>II</p><p> </p><p>“Knock, knock.”</p><p>Katie tiptoed into Keith’s open hospital room, careful not to make too much noise in case he was sleeping. He’d had quite a few visitors all day, and Katie had only had two opportunities to check up on him. Once during lunch where she’d sung quietly for him while checking his bandages and now, late, now that visitor hours had ended.</p><p>She still wasn’t sure what had happened on the mission to make him lose control of his rage and transform—she’d ask him once he was well enough to speak again—but it’d scared the crap out of her several days ago when his fleet had suddenly delivered him to the med bay unconscious and purple like a Galra. Krolia had deduced his Galran genes were overtaking his human DNA and impeding hormonal equilibrium which his body wasn’t equipped to handle yet.</p><p>Her only option had been to rapidly design an inhibitor which they’d inserted in his hypothalamus until his body found harmony. It quelled the worst of his transformation, and he was growing more stable, but they were keeping active track of him until his warring body chilled out.</p><p>She was so glad she’d been able to help him a little bit, though she wished he wasn’t going through so much discomfort with a body he didn’t quite understand. Thankfully, Allura was able to get them into contact with a Galran general named Acxa, who was consulting with them about “Galran puberty” as it was called. Keith’s had come much later in life, unfortunately, and it was apparent the later it happened, the harder it was for the body to deal with. But he was half-human, while she was of another alien species, so his reactions were much worse.</p><p>Katie realised he was awake as she checked his IV site, though only because he was taking slow, deep breaths in and out and his brows were creased. He was having another episode, and her lips pursed, disappointed that the morphine dose only assisted in quelling his human pain.</p><p>“Have you been able to get any sleep? Blink once for yes.”</p><p>Keith grunted softly in response, and she watched his eyelids squeeze in his version of a blink, but he otherwise didn’t open his eyes. She knew Galran eyes were much more sensitive than the average human’s and he was still experiencing excruciating pain whenever he saw any light. She knew when he could control the transformation and adjust, he’d be okay, but for now, he was willingly keeping his golden gleaming eyes hidden. The fact that his fangs had retracted was probably a good sign though.</p><p>“Well, good news. We ran some tests after noon again, and your hormones are finally stabilising. Once you’re able to control your body at will, we’ll look into either removing the inhibitor or replacing it with a more refined version you’ll be able to turn on and off.” Katie smiled, sitting on the edge of his hospital bed and tucking the cover higher on his chest. “It really is like you’re going through some intense second puberty. I swear if your voice starts cracking again, I’ll never let you live it down.”</p><p>His lips curved in a smile, and he snorted, but otherwise didn’t respond. Keith tugged weakly on her lab coat and when she glanced down at his hand, he turned it over and flipped her off. She laughed, glad he was in high spirits despite the immeasurable pain he was in.</p><p>“Get some rest, Keith.”</p><p>Katie leaned down to kiss his forehead and squeezed his hand before standing up and leaving to go see the next patient on her list.</p><p>She remembered briefly seeing the room across Keith’s as one of her rooms on her list and walked in, absentmindedly swiping across her tablet to pull up the correct chart.</p><p>“The abrasive medic. We meet again, Katie Holt.”</p><p>Katie slowed her stride and looked up when she heard the familiar (irritating) voice, and sure enough, sitting on the cot and smirking at her was Lance with a sling on his right arm.</p><p>From what the chart showed, he’d requested her, and even if she would have ended up treating him anyway since he’d come to get his translator readjusted, she knew exactly what his true intentions coming here were.</p><p>And it had nothing to do with what was listed on his chart.</p><p>“He remembers my name this time? <em>Wow</em>. I can put a gold star on your chart now…” she responded dryly, opening up his chart and reviewing the symptoms the nurse had left regarding his healing dislocation in his shoulder three days prior. His physical earlier today was finished too, and he was in pretty good health. “Your audiogram came back with no significant findings. You have perfect hearing at all frequencies and volumes. It says here you’ll be going on a mission to deep space in a few weeks and need your translator and vaccinations updated. I’m impressed. No fake injury this time?”</p><p>“Still all cold business and snark as usual. Have you never been trained in the art of small talk?”</p><p>“Pretty sure you haven’t been either considering everything that comes out of your mouth makes a rock look like <em>Einstein</em>,” she shot back.</p><p>Lance looked amused. “You know, you’re kind of unpleasant.”</p><p>She shot him a nasty look as she set her tablet on the table and pulled up the holograph of his slowly rotating head.</p><p>“I mean that in a good way. Somewhat.” He shrugged. “People are always putting on airs to appease others—myself included, I guess—so it’s a little refreshing to encounter someone who doesn’t give a rats ass about social conventions.”</p><p>It still sounded like something of an insult to her, so she didn’t respond as she shifted over to his right side to check on his injury really quickly. She wanted to make sure his ligament wasn’t still torn and needing nanobots to help facilitate the repair.</p><p>“The inflammation has gone down, and your rotator cuff isn’t unstable, but you’re still flinching when I touch it here.” Katie carefully moved his arm, taking note of which motions yielded a reaction. “Are you in rehab?”</p><p>“Didn’t think I needed it.”</p><p>“That’s fine. I’ll set a referral for you just in case so you can go sometime in the next two months.” Once she was done, he put his arm back in the sling, a mildly uncomfortable look on his face. She grabbed a pair of gloves and pulled them on. “Not that she’s even on Earth right now, but why no obnoxious requests for Allura today?”</p><p>He drummed his fingers on his knee. “Because <em>we</em> never concluded our correspondence. And I came to get my apology.”</p><p>She snorted derisively. “You stand a better chance of developing a unicorn horn on your head.”</p><p>“I figured you’d say something like that. Your personality is just about what I expected considering your background.”</p><p>She paused at that, turning from where she was setting up her tools and making sure the electromagnetic pill to update his translation implant was fully charged and ready to sync.</p><p>“That’s a pretty odd thing to say to someone who you’ve only really had two conversations with.”</p><p>“Dr. Katie Holt. Twenty-six. BMI of 19.2. Spitfire daughter of Admiral Sam Holt and Dr. Colleen Holt and sister of Commander Matt Holt. Considered the brightest cadet to graduate from the science department since your father. A widely acknowledged genius ever since you presented your graduating thesis on your development of cloaking mechanisms which are now installed in all our flight controls and aircrafts. You’re currently a clinical researcher developing tech using alien products to advance modern medicine and wound care. You have two PhDs in biochem and engineering, considering a third in artificial intelligence, and most would say you are a know-it-all and the nerdiest nerd to ever nerd. You’re obsessed with astronomy and Killbot Phantasm. Dating history is practically non-existent because you have a mad scientist streak that scares away most prospects. Oh and that little habit you have of not apologising to people.”</p><p>The last comment made her eyebrow twitch. “I see you did your research…”</p><p>“A month’s worth. I found out interesting stuff about you.” He sniffed, rubbing under his nose and trying to hide his proud grin. “It’s not every day someone you’ve had <em>two conversations with</em> comes for your entire life, so I went digging for some dirt.”</p><p>“And found nothing,” she said haughtily. “I have a perfect record.”</p><p>“Yeah… Except for that one time you snuck into the comm sector and tried to hack a satellite with Iverson’s code to get in touch with your dad while he was on Kerberos. Almost got expelled on your first day of school and hadn’t even attended a class yet.”</p><p>“How the hell did you find that out?”</p><p>He smirked. “I hacked it.”</p><p>“You probably asked Keith,” she countered dryly.</p><p>“…They don’t call you a genius for nothing, damn.”</p><p>“Wow. Must have really cost you, huh?”</p><p>“Some of my dignity, yes. But who cares. I got dirt on you too. In any case,” he pointed his thumb at himself with a wide, crooked grin, “I’m Lieutenant Lance McClain of the <em>fighter</em> <em>pilot</em> division as of three days ago. So what do you have to say to that?”</p><p>And there it was. Just as she expected.</p><p>“I heard about your prowess with the blaster guns. You got the rarely-seen 100% accuracy grading. Shiro mentioned some cadets who got to watch parts of your test have been calling you The Sharpshooter.”</p><p>She’d been surprised he’d turned in his request for transfer to his commanding officer who’d approved and turned it in to the admiral’s council within a week of her appointment with him. Most people spent months studying for their career change. Lance requested only two weeks.</p><p>Of course, she would never tell him that she’d actually been appointed one of the graders for his written exam. And she’d been a spectator during his flight test because she’d been interested in seeing his piloting. During that midterm eval all those years back, he’d nearly failed because of his insistence on “threading the needle” or some shit like that.</p><p>But she’d been pleasantly surprised.</p><p>As annoying as he was, she could see the amount of effort and maturity he put into his job, and how much he truly loved flying. Lance was really skilled, if not a little cocky. And the smile of sheer joy on his face when he’d stepped out of the aircraft, wind blowing through his hair when he removed the helmet made her believe he posed the perfect image of a pilot.</p><p>(And that she could see why the nurses kept saying he was really cute—not that she’d ever tell him that—even though he was this gigantic stupid dork).</p><p>“Sharpshooter? I guess I did probably look pretty badass.” Lance looked quite pleased with himself, even sat up straighter and puffed up with pride. “And I did that with a fucked up shoulder after the physical portion.”</p><p>“Don’t gloat.”</p><p>“I think I’ve more than earned the right after your insults.” She rolled her eyes and picked up her brain scanner, an MRI she’d miniaturised. “Plus I got a score in the 98<sup>th</sup> percentile. I busted my ass for that score and it paid off.”</p><p>“Congrats. Where’s your translator?”</p><p>“Left. And thanks. But that’s not nearly as satisfying as getting a real apology.”</p><p>Katie turned his head and felt around behind his left ear until she located the ridges of the thin square chip under his skin. “I gave you one. You chose not to accept it, so that’s on—”</p><p>“I’m not budging on this one. You’ll have to deal with me over and over and over again until I get what I want.”</p><p>“So be it,” she interrupted staunchly while turning her nose up at him in a sneer. “I refuse to apologise to you, after I went through all that effort in the first place to make it up to you. I couldn’t even remember my codes to bypass security since I haven’t hacked in a while, yet I still kept trying until I figured it out because I felt bad about what I said to you. It’s the thought that counts.”</p><p>Lance didn’t immediately respond. When she stepped back and glanced at him, he was watching her with this oddly soft smile, and she made a face at him, the back of her neck warming.</p><p>“Wouldn’t it have just been easier to say sorry instead?” Lance questioned softly. “No one asked you to do all that for me.”</p><p>“But you’re glad I did, and something good came out of my decision, so why don’t you just accept it?”</p><p>He hummed. “Must be like pulling teeth for you. An apology.”</p><p>“I don’t do it often.”</p><p>“You should work on that.” He cocked a brow, looking quite entertained. “Starting with me. Because like I said, while I appreciate the thought behind it, I actually think you just don’t want to say it because you don’t like admitting you’re wrong.”</p><p>“And you should work on letting things go and <em>accepting</em> gestures of good will. Keep still for a moment.”</p><p>“Don’t get mad at me. You’ve turned this into a competition for no reason. Now I have to win.”</p><p>She scoffed. “I haven’t even apologised to Keith yet for crashing his work-assigned hoverbike years ago. Keep dreaming.”</p><p>“Let me guess: you bought him a new one.”</p><p>“No.” She smirked. “I bought him <em>two</em>.”</p><p>“You are something else…” he muttered, though she definitely noted the mirth in his tone.</p><p>Katie shifted the scanner around his head to check his neuronal activity in his temporal lobe and make sure there weren’t abnormalities. Lance was surprisingly calm as she worked at it, his gaze focused on the sun-kissed bench outside the window. If she was reading him correctly, he seemed a little dejected.</p><p>“You’re awfully quiet. It’s weird.”</p><p>“Uh, just thought about something not totally pleasant.”</p><p>She didn’t say anything, unsure what to say. Or rather, unsure how to ask the question so she didn’t seem overeager to know what was on his mind.</p><p>“…Pretty sure this is the part where you’re supposed to ask me what’s wrong,” he joked. “I even gave you the perfect opening.”</p><p>“I was about to! I had to find the right words!” she answered, vexed. “If you were already going to talk about it, then why didn’t you just tell me what was wrong?”</p><p>He chuckled, shaking his head slightly until she clawed his head to keep him from moving. Lance yelped.</p><p>“Talk, but keep your head still.”</p><p>“It’s not that big a deal, but I kinda can’t shake the feeling that I only made it because Keith is currently down for the count and they need a free agent asap. Like I’m backup to fill a spot only to get tossed aside when he comes back.”</p><p>“That’s dumb…”</p><p>He scowled at her. “What?”</p><p>“Perfect score in flight simulation, perfect score in weaponry, near perfect in physical evaluation, near perfect in the written exam, near perfect total examination score,” she recounted, and then her scanner beeped that it was done.</p><p>“Okay, how do you know <em>that</em>?”</p><p>She ignored him, letting his head go to plug her scanner into her tablet so the brain activity readings could update on his chart. “What part of that breakdown says they selected you because they needed you as a backup fighter pilot? Do you know how many people we have on our active duty roster? We’re not lacking for pilots, Lance.”</p><p>“I… I guess I did do well.”</p><p>“You’re worth having,” Katie remarked gently. “Don’t sell yourself short.”</p><p>Lance smiled down at his hands in his lap, and she could swear he was kind of blushing. When he glanced up and met her gaze, for a brief moment, that fond warmth was back on his face, but then he settled for a racy look and when he waggled his eyebrows, she was instantly irritated.</p><p>“So what you’re saying is: you want me.”</p><p>“Worth having as a fighter pilot at the garrison, nimrod. Anyway, stop comparing yourself to Keith. He’s got his strengths; you have yours.”</p><p>“…Speaking of him,” Lance brought up at length, his tone nonchalant, but his expression curious. “Noticed you were pretty touchy feely. Kinda gross that you’re macking on an engaged man while he’s asleep.”</p><p>“I was helping him stay comfortable while he recovers.” She scanned her notes and then minimised the mini-screen and picked up her otoscope.</p><p>“You kissed him,” he pointed out. “Saw with my own two eyes.”</p><p>“His <em>forehead</em>, because he’s my best friend and is going through something traumatic right now. And anyway, he was awake, Lance. Trust me. I’m learning to move on from that crush.”</p><p>“Really.”</p><p>“You kind of have to when you confess your feelings and get turned down,” she responded as she put a new plastic cap and moved back over to his side.</p><p>His gaze snapped towards her. “You— you confessed?”</p><p>She grabbed his face and made him look forward, much to his annoyance. “Day after your appointment. He knew. He obviously doesn’t feel the same way, but we worked it out.”</p><p>“And you’re still friends?”</p><p>“Total besties.” She bent at the waist and shone her otoscope in Lance’s left ear to check the canal and ear drum. “Closer now, actually, since he finally told me about his relationship.”</p><p>He grimaced, his ear twitching a bit when she tugged on the lobe. “You don’t seem like the type to put yourself out there like that.”</p><p>“Research can’t show you everything about a person or their experiences or the way we respond to experiences.”</p><p>“Yeah, I noticed. So I’ll add fearless to my list. Right after ‘can’t apologise like a normal person’.”</p><p>“Normal is overrated.” When she saw the faint shadows of a red light blinking through his eardrum, she took the scope out, satisfied with his chip’s position. “And anyway, I don’t really have that many friends and I’ve avoided most relationships for most of my life. I’m friendly to people I care about. Everyone else, there’s no point, because people suck.”</p><p>“People can be great if you give them a chance.”</p><p>“People suck,” she repeated. “But sometimes they are helpful, I guess… Someone recently inspired me to put myself out there. Or I guess I should say pissed me off so much I had to ask Keith for the truth and ended up revealing how I’ve felt along the way.”</p><p>“Hmm… So not only does this guy deserve an apology, he also deserves a <em>thank you</em>…” Lance replied playfully, and Katie sighed as she moved back over to her small table to grab the Pill. “So. Why the 3rd PhD? You’ve already established your reputation as a genius.”</p><p>“It’s not about me. Shiro’s disease has progressed to the point amputation might be his only option in the next few years. They were able to slow it down for a decade but…” Katie sighed again, shaking her head as she disinfected the electromagnetic upgrader. “We’re working on making him a prosthetic that responds to commands from his brain with the advice from some scientists we’ve been in contact with in space. If it works for him, can you imagine the kind of advancements we could make for others?”</p><p>“I didn’t realise the science department was working on such huge projects.”</p><p>“We’re scientists. We’re wired to constantly break the boundaries of science with experiments. Everything around us is evolving and if we don’t work to catch up, we’ll be left in the dust. I have no doubt one day there’ll be an alien invasion, and currently, Terrans are sitting ducks.”</p><p>“That’s morbid.”</p><p>“Not everything out in space is nice.”</p><p>“Believe me, I know…”</p><p>She took the disinfected upgrader and turned it on by rotating the base. The small spiked legs descended, and Lance eyed it warily as she brought it over to insert on his translator.</p><p>“Do you know how frightening that thing is? It looks like—”</p><p>“A cockroach with stingers for legs.”</p><p>“Exactly! It’s a terrifying design.”</p><p>Katie forced herself not to smile. He visibly and audibly cringed when she cleaned his skin and pressed the electromagnet into him and waited for its glow to pulse. Once it was, just to make sure his chip was back online, she asked him a question in Balmeran.</p><p>“Yeah, it’s working right—” Lance’s brows furrowed, and he lifted his eyes to hers. “Wait, that’s Balmeran. You can speak Balmeran?”</p><p>“Fluently. I was a graduate of the Tech and Comm division of the sci department. One of our requirements for graduating was learning one major language of the Space Alliance. I learned all five. So I also know Olkari, Arusian, Galran, and Altean.”</p><p>“That’s amazing.” She chewed on her lower lip to hide her little smile when Lance beamed at her. “Any particular reason why?”</p><p>“I just like learning, I guess.” She shrugged, starting the monitor so the Pill would sync his translator. “Well… I had these high hopes of going to space one day. Probably not going to happen for a while, but I’d love to travel to those planets and just explore the cultures. Been dying to get off Earth. Hook up with a weird alien or something.”</p><p>Lance was looking shell-shocked, and she quickly folded her lips in to stop herself from laughing at the look of horror on his face.</p><p>“<em>What</em>? Why would you want to?”</p><p>“Bragging rights. And aliens are <em>so cool</em> and much more interesting compared to people. I’ve always wanted to meet more, especially after Allura told me about some species out there.”</p><p>“Okay, you have to be jerking my chain.”</p><p>She was. (Somewhat). But it was funny to see him practically freak out.</p><p>“I’m totally serious. How many people can say they fucked an alien? The only person anyone knows of who’s done that is Keith’s dad.”</p><p>“I mean, I guess. But it depends on the type of alien on the spectrum. Closer to Allura’s side of the spectrum or like those things from Alien?” He shuddered. “And I’ve seen some pretty frightening ones too. The one that tried to eat a chunk of my side comes to mind.”</p><p>“I’m not picky.”</p><p> “I didn’t know you were this fascinated with aliens.” Lance grimaced for a second, touching his neck and tilting his head to the right a bit. “Urgh. That high pitched noise.”</p><p>“Fifty percent calibrated. Just a bit more. And it’s my number one ambition actually.”</p><p>“Having sex with an alien?”</p><p>“No,” she rolled her eyes at him, “getting to meet species of aliens in person. A hookup is a perk. It’s wishful thinking anyway. I doubt I’ll be able to get off Earth anytime soon.”</p><p>“…Maybe I could fly you to space one day.”</p><p>“Lance, no offence, but I’m pretty sure I would strangle you halfway through the trip.”</p><p>“That’s okay. I’m into that kind of thing.”</p><p>It was said with a completely straight face, and she only realised he was joking from the mischievous dancing of his eyes. Katie shoved him, and he nearly lost his balance.</p><p>“Hey, careful! Injured shoulder here.”</p><p>“Oh oops,” she intoned, and he made a noise of affront.</p><p>When the blinking light of the Pill finally stopped, it beeped, disengaged, and loosened from his skin. Lance let out a full-bodied shuddered as she pulled off the electromagnet. Small droplets of blood beaded on his skin and she cleaned it off with an antiseptic wipe before pressing a gauze pad on the reddened part of his skin.</p><p>“Hate that part when it dislodges…” His eyes squeezed tightly shut as he drew in short breaths. “Feels like a brain freeze times ten.”</p><p>They were trying to improve the process, but so far, this was the most effective and efficient way to run updates without having to take out the locators and reinserting them, a surgery that took too long to do considering it’d have to be done every time the language databases were updated.</p><p>She’d never experienced it since she didn’t need a translator yet, but she had it on good authority that the process left them feeling sore and discombobulated. Lance looked like he was struggling, and she felt for him since it probably wasn’t easy to get used to.</p><p>Katie gently massaged the area behind his ear in a slow circle. She only tended to do it for her friends, but she knew it made the aftermath of the synchronisation tingle less, and judging by Lance’s soft whine and the way he kind of sagged towards her hand, she knew he appreciated it. She couldn’t help the little smile on her face because it was kind of cute how he became all putty-like.</p><p>“Hold your hand on the gauze for just a bit. I’ll wrap it up.”</p><p>He acquiesced, pressing down on the same place. “You’re kind of weird. You choose not to be nurturing, even though you can be. And it’s not often you run into a scientist of alien tech who’s trained as a medic.”</p><p>“When my mom established her lab for alien studies,” Katie held up his soft hair as she carefully wrapped a bandage around the edges of his hairline to hold the gauze in place. When she’d done two rotations, she let his hair fall back over it, “we were unsure if we’d get funding or proper resources from the garrison so I became a medic as a secondary career in case <em>my</em> research interests couldn’t pan out.”</p><p>“Do you enjoy it?”</p><p>“I enjoy it when I don’t have to deal with douchey patients,” she said, giving him a pointed look and dropping her hand away. She tossed her gloves, properly disposed of the Pill, opened the exam page of his chart to fill out his toleration for the procedure and put in the order for Lance’s vaccinations against alien infections. “But I do like what I do. The intersection of science, alien stuff, and medicine is pretty fascinating, and I’m free to research and invent to my heart’s content. But when I was younger, I wanted to fly in space like Shiro and dominate the science department like Matt.”</p><p>“Shiro was my inspiration too. I wanted to be like him.” Lance scratched at the bandage. “I think our entire generation was influenced by him. Veronica told me there was a huge surge of enrolments after his first solo trip.”</p><p>“I will admit, I pegged you as the type who wanted to pilot just to impress the ladies or something.”</p><p>“That’s not nearly a motivating enough factor to convince me to put myself through gruelling hell for the career shift,” he responded, raising a brow and briefly eyeing her. “It’s not a joke to me. We’re responsible for people’s lives. Like you said, there’s a lot of stuff going on out there, and I just want to help because we have the means to. It’s like… if I can prevent someone else’s death somehow, I’d gladly jump in the fray, no matter the cost.”</p><p>Katie would never admit it out loud, but she was honestly astonished by Lance’s response to the point she just blinked at him, unsure of what to say. Lance had this outer image of this goofy ass guy obsessed with himself who couldn’t get his shit right, but at his core, he wanted to live for other people. She wasn’t sure if selfish selflessness came into play here, but he read as sincere to her, especially since he was willing to put his life on the line to do whatever he could to do to help. There was some cognitive dissonance rectifying what she thought she knew about him, but the contradicting personality trait, oddly enough, fit him perfectly.</p><p>She liked it.</p><p>“You should show that side of you more.”</p><p>“What side?” he asked slowly, turning from looking out the window again. “My left?”</p><p>“Your non-annoying side, you dork.”</p><p>“…Are you saying you find me attractive?”</p><p>“Why do I even bother speaking to you?” she grumbled. “When the hell did those words ever come out of my mouth?”</p><p>“It’s implied. I’m reading between the lines here.” His grin widened. “You said I should show a different side of myself more, presumably because you like it. Ergo, you find it attractive.”</p><p>“Because it’s less annoying; that doesn’t mean I like you.”</p><p>“<em>Liking me</em> wasn’t even on the table. So you have a crush on me now, eh?”</p><p>“I should carry duct-tape with me from now on…” Katie muttered to herself as she closed out his chart.</p><p>“You know, I take it back… you are pretty cute. Awkwardly cute.”</p><p>“Just because Allura’s not an option doesn’t mean I’m open for business.”</p><p>“Wasn’t thinking about Allura, but okay. So not only do you have a crush on me, you’re jealous too.”</p><p>She shot him a vicious glare. “Are you <em>trying</em> to lower your life span or something?!”</p><p>He laughed out loud at that. “We should go on a date. I feel like we’d get on super.”</p><p>“I doubt it.”</p><p>“You sure? I’ve been told my adventurous spirit makes for a great night~”</p><p><em>“</em>Merla will be in later to give you your vaccinations. And I’m letting you know right now, one will cause temporary vestibular disruption and leave you bedridden for about an hour. <em>Bye</em>, Lance. We’re done here.”</p><p>Katie grabbed her tablet to leave, but Lance stopped her by grabbing onto the side of her coat.</p><p>“Uh, wait, one sec. I didn’t get a chance to say thank you.”</p><p>“It’s fine. This is my job.”</p><p>“No… I mean about…” Her brows furrowed as she stared down at him, and he sighed, a sheepish look on his face. “Well, I never really went for fighter pilot because I figured I wouldn’t have a shot. That I wouldn’t be worth it or something. They didn’t want me in the programme the first time; why would the second be any different? Everyone else thought I should just leave it. Make the best of my career. But your encouragement helped. Even if it wasn’t encouraging in tone. So thank you. It was nice to know someone believed in me, no matter how rude.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“Just okay? You don’t emote much, do you?”</p><p>“As in I’m happy you’re where you want to be.” She looked away, her cheeks rouging. “What else is there to say?”</p><p>“Not used to gratitude?”</p><p>She frowned at him. “There’s no need for it.”</p><p>“There is to me, Katie. It mattered. A lot. Even without the apology.”</p><p>Silence fell between them for a moment, Katie growing flustered by the open warmth in his smile.</p><p>“Also, I’m sorry,” he continued.</p><p>“For what.”</p><p>“For not remembering <em>Pidge</em>, my assigned tech officer in my simulation trials during midterm evals. You were probably the reason why Hunk and I passed. Well, maybe just me.”</p><p>“Let me guess: you asked Keith again?”</p><p>“Uh, no.” Lance cleared his throat as he scratched the back of his head. “That one I figured out the day after our first meeting. Err, second-ish meeting. In my defence, you look 100% different. Well, except your eyes, but can you blame me?”</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>? I never forgot you.”</p><p>And she instantly realised what that sounded like when Lance chuckled and to her horror, he smirked.</p><p>“How long <em>have</em> you been crushing on me exactly?”</p><p>She stepped far away from him, her cheeks feeling hot. “I didn’t mean it like that, you absolute moron!”</p><p>“See how easy it is to say sorry though? Rolls right off the tongue.”</p><p>“I’m never apologising to you.”</p><p>“Never say never. Speaking of… you never actually responded to my date invite. How about dinner? Or a movie?”</p><p>“Stop hitting on me as a joke, Lance, or I’ll inject you with a neurotoxin and fuck you up,” she said through grit teeth.</p><p>“Okay, see? That’s something only a mad scientist would threaten someone with. But I’m actually not kidding around. I want to spend more time with you, Katie.”</p><p>That was a first.</p><p>“…Why?”</p><p>“Oddly enough, as frustrating as you can be—”</p><p>“Feeling’s mutual.”</p><p>“—I like talking to you. You’re an interesting person.” He gestured between them. “And I like this back and forth. It’s fun. I feel like there’s some chemistry there. Why not explore it?”</p><p>“You’re…”</p><p>Surprisingly sincere. She couldn’t decipher the look on his face though, and that made her heart skip in her chest. It wasn’t just that it was unexpected flirtiness. It was extremely forward and while Katie had romantic experiences—<em>one</em> in the last year, two total in the past four—she wasn’t sure how to respond to him.</p><p>“…stupid.”</p><p>Lance laughed, and Katie didn’t think she could get anymore flustered.</p><p>“So…” he drew out the word. “Is that a negative for the date?”</p><p>“We’ll have your discharge summary at the front desk after you get your shots.”</p><p>“Raincheck, then?”</p><p>She spun around and walked away without sparing him another glance. Katie headed all the way to the nurse’s station scowling. As she moved to plug her tablet into its charging port, a nurse eyed her in bewilderment.</p><p>“Katie, you feeling okay? Your face is really red.”</p><p>“Just, uhh… just kind of warm in here.” She touched her cheeks, annoyed she couldn’t quell the flushing. “I’m gonna get some air.”</p><p>What the hell was wrong with him?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>III</p><p> </p><p>“It kind of looks like the Millennium Falcon, don’t you— Yowch!” Lance nearly jumped off the rolling stool as she carefully removed the last of the bandages and they caught on his skin for just a moment. “Gentle hands please! I don’t feel like my skin is being ripped off anymore, but it’s still tender!”</p><p>Katie had gotten a heads up prior to his arrival that he’d gotten caught in an explosion by some space goon when he’d pushed some high-ranking diplomat out of the way, but she couldn’t deny she was a little shocked to see the amount of space the wound encompassed. It was located in the very middle of his back with uneven tendrils trickling out from the zone of impact. There were scabs from the open cuts finally closing, some remnants of painful-looking blisters, it was bruised in some places, red in others, and the patchy discolouration from the burn had no rhyme or reason.</p><p>She distractedly scratched at her chin with a hum, tilting her head as she carefully inspected it for possible signs of infection, but it <em>was </em>healing, even if it was pretty ugly and looked like it was a little irritated. The burn had no drainage and aside from the mottled skin, Lance didn’t seem to be in any discomfort for the most part, but she knew each time the skin pulled, he had to be hiding a flinch. Because it’d happened earlier on the mission and they had to continue on, the crew he’d travelled with didn’t have the necessary supplies to dress and treat it, so they’d cleaned it and wrapped it up and left it like that for the most part. It wasn’t a clean dressing, but at least it wasn’t purulent.</p><p>“So what’s the prognosis, Doc?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder when she straightened up and cleared her throat.</p><p>“I agree. It’s the Falcon with three extra spikes maybe. In any case, this is definitely going to scar, even if we put balm right now.” Katie ran her gloved finger along the ridges of the jagged star-shaped wound. It was mildly warm and the skin felt hard and tight, though not crusty. It was kind of a shame in some ways; Lance had some of the most beautiful skin she’d ever seen. “Once the irritation settles and the scabs heal, it’ll look a lot better, but the way it healed, this is going to stick. We can order a skin graft to replace the scar tissue, if you want? But that’s going to be a lengthy process.”</p><p>“Nah. Scars are signs of a warrior. Plus, it’s a souvenir from my first fighter pilot mission! With <em>Shiro</em>, no less.”</p><p>She chuckled. “You’re such a dork.”</p><p>Nevertheless, he was in good spirits when he’d arrived to get treated and decontaminated, and she’d heaved out a breath of relief because she had been scared about his injury when she saw the report. But Lance was as doofy and energetic as always, and she was glad. It was probably going to suck for him to celebrate his birthday tomorrow with a back that was still paining him—especially if he was the annoying type to hook up with random people on his birthday—but from his current reaction, she didn’t think the pain would be too much of a problem.</p><p>Katie squeezed out a generous amount of the special balm onto his back and lathered in the ointment, making sure to put some in the surrounding areas as well.</p><p>“That feels really nice.”</p><p>“It stimulates the nerves and blood flow to the area to facilitate tissue repair.” She rubbed it in more carefully in spots that looked sensitive. “So what was the fight like? You can tell you got punched in the face. The black eye isn’t fully gone yet.”</p><p>“The fact I took the punch and didn’t pass out is a miracle honestly.” He grimaced as he gently touched the puffy skin under his left eye. He looked bothered by it, but Katie thought he looked fine to her. Still cute, but now with hints of rugged because of it. “You should see the other guy though.”</p><p>“Did you beat him up?”</p><p>“Hell no! He was <em>giant</em> and had a projectile claw arm and some red glass eye. Kept calling himself Sendak the Great; he was some general who defected from the Galran Order. I did manage to get a shot in, but that was one freaky ass guy. Had nothing to live for, so he was pretty brutal. Believed in some higher Galra power or some shit and wanted to depose Zarkon. That fight was so awesome though. I wish I wasn’t half-conscious after the explosion, but Shiro fought like a madman.”</p><p>The hero worship look was adorable, and she wasn’t surprised considering most people looked like that when they talked about Shiro the Hero. It was a shame he was all but discharged since they’d had to amputate his arm after the strain of the mission. It also didn’t help that Sendak had snapped it in so many places it was damn near impossible to salvage.</p><p>If Katie could just figure out how to create a functional prosthetic that would meet his needs, he wouldn’t currently have to take this forced sabbatical. It frustrated her to no end because he was so sweet and told her not to worry about it—that he’d always known this day was coming anyway—but if she was better or smarter she could fashion a new arm for him and help him. The admirals council was already discussing his retirement, and while her father had told her they were planning to honour his service and induct him into the council, Katie knew being forced off active duty probably hurt Shiro deeply, even if he never showed it.</p><p>She felt sick thinking of her lack of advancement with the project, especially since now they were on a time crunch to complete it.</p><p>“Sounds like you had a pretty good first mission.”</p><p>“And the planet itself we went to was so strange. You wouldn’t believe the weird species we saw. Definitely ticked off a couple things on my bucket list with this mission.”</p><p>Lance yammered on and on about the things they’d seen, and it was nice to just listen to his crazy story. As farfetched as he made some of it sound, his enthusiasm was contagious. This was what he’d wanted for so many years, and now he finally had it. She was really happy for him, which was admittedly strange because she didn’t usually care about stuff like this.</p><p>“One day, you’ll experience it for yourself too,” Lance said, giving her an encouraging smile.</p><p>Katie paused from grabbing a new roll of gauze bandages. “That’s the dream. Have a ton of work I need to do first though, starting with finishing this physical, so sit up and stop fidgeting.”</p><p>Lance straightened his back and held his arms out to give her room to wrap the gauze around his trunk, starting above his navel and working her way up. Katie tried not to focus too much on the lean musculature of his chest or accidentally brush up against his abs. She made sure the bandaging was tight enough it wouldn’t slip, but loose enough the wound could breathe and fastened it off after making a few rotations over his shoulder. Once she was done, she cleaned up the remaining supplies and opened her case to remove the optical scanner refurbished from a microscope to analyse the microbial composition of his skin.</p><p>He’d already been released from the decontamination chambers and showers, but she had to do this one last check to make sure there was nothing else on his person. Then after this, he’d be given his compound and observed and hopefully in 24 hours, any possible toxins would be excreted. The full physical conducted following a trip to space took at minimum a day to check their entire system, their mental state, and any injuries caused by alien species.</p><p>Katie only usually handled administering decontaminant since she’d developed the formula, but she didn’t mind doing Lance’s physical. She’d wanted to hear about the mission directly from him since she kind of had a personal investment in him becoming a fighter pilot.</p><p>“Your hair is longer…” Lance said out of the blue, and then snapped his mouth shut, looking a little abashed as he backtracked. “<em>Not</em> that I was keeping track! I just noticed the difference from our last encounter is all.”</p><p>“It’s only been a few weeks since your last appointment.” She held the end of a front lock, surprised that it was at her armpits now. When had that happened? “It can’t be that much of a change.”</p><p>“A month and a half, Katie.” He snickered when her brows shot up in genuine confusion. “How much time do you spend in your lab?”</p><p>Katie flipped on the scanner, and the machine hummed to life, charging up as the purple fluorescent lights glowed. “Apparently all of it. There’s no such thing as night or day anymore.”</p><p>“What do you do for fun?” Lance asked slowly, clearly in disbelief.</p><p>“Work <em>is</em> fun.”</p><p>“Well I get that. But I meant like non-work-related fun. Things you do to loosen up. Unwind. There are lots of options.”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“It’s summertime. Going to the pool is fun.”</p><p>“My hair will turn green.”</p><p>“Skating is fun too.”</p><p>“I’d get run over by taller people.”</p><p> “Okay…” Lance gave her an exasperated look. “you could take up knitting or something?”</p><p>“I work with my hands. Can’t risk carpal tunnel.” She leaned back against the table and hooked her thumbs in her coat pockets while she waited for the scanner to charge up. “Your suggestions aren’t catered to my lifestyle choices or interests. I expected better, Lance, considering you researched me for a month for information. It’s unacceptable, honestly.”</p><p>Lance snorted under his breath. “Jeez. Okay, give me a bit, O Disdainful One. I’ll wrack my brain for Katie Holt facts and come up with a good suggestion.”</p><p>She watched the glow of the scanner grow stronger and stabilise as it warmed up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lance cross his ankle over his knee and rest his chin in his hand as he playfully scrutinised her, but she was largely distracted.</p><p>There had to be <em>something</em> she was missing about Shiro’s arm. So far, they had this idea to connect the mechanics of the arm to motor neurons of the precentral gyrus, but that meant tampering with nerves. And while Earth was advanced, there was no successful way to conduct those sorts of experiments without possibly causing irreparable damage. How were they supposed to connect the inorganic electrical components to fragile organic matter? It was starting to feel like they were way in over their head, and the best bet was to ship Shiro out to another planet for that kind of surgery.</p><p>“Katie.”</p><p>Which definitely stung, because she prided herself on never needing outside help for complicated problems.</p><p>“<em>Katie</em>,” Lance repeated a little more loudly, and she snapped out of it, shifting her gaze back over to him in alarm. “Your machine thingymabob. It blinked rapidly just now.”</p><p>“Oh… umm, thanks.”</p><p>She licked her lips, straightening back up and clearing her throat as she moved to zero up the settings to set a baseline. Katie adjusted the focus on the scan and made sure the objective lens was at the right setting.</p><p>“You’re like a million miles away, and you’ve only called me a dork once. I’m a little offended your attention isn’t solely on me.”</p><p>She wiped at the screen of the scanner, distracted. “The gene for ‘dork’ is dominant in your genetic coding. You’ll say something stupid any second now, and I’ll respond accordingly.”</p><p>“Hey… You okay?” He scratched at his arm, the teasing look on his face dropping as his brows furrowed in concern. “You seem a little down. Or upset.”</p><p>“You got that from my last comment?”</p><p>“Well, no. That’s peak Katie, actually. But your expression is… off? Plus your eyes aren’t blazing with the usual bitter hatred and rage stronger in passion than even the sun’s love for the moon when you look at me.”</p><p>That definitely drew a smile she couldn’t hide. “Not even ten seconds. What a dork, for real.”</p><p>“Wow.” Lance gaped at her, pretending to be utterly shocked. “You really <em>aren’t</em> okay if you didn’t even try to hide your smile from me this time. Seriously, Doc. I tell you my problems. And I know Keith is on a leave of absence, so I’m here if you want to talk to me.”</p><p>She wasn’t even sure if it was worth it to tell him, but neither Nadia nor Allura were on Earth, and she didn’t want to burden her busy family members with this anymore. Katie sighed, deciding it didn’t even matter. She was sure that just like everyone else did, he was going to reassure her she’d eventually figure it out with her genius brain. Or God-forbid, respond like Shiro, who told her it was okay if she didn’t figure it out and he appreciated her efforts anyway. They all meant well, she knew, but none of it was helping.</p><p>“It’s going to sound silly to you.”</p><p>“Try me.”</p><p>Katie picked at her thumb nail. “It’s just… I like my life. A lot, you know? I like the trajectory of my life, I love my friends, my dog, my family. I’m self-assured.”</p><p>“I’ve noticed. It’s a great personality trait of yours.”</p><p>“Umm, thanks?” She twiddled her thumbs for a moment and then sighed, slipping her hands in her pockets. “But what I meant is, I don’t usually run into dead ends or roadblocks when I’m working on research or in the lab, so when I do, I feel like… I failed something. And I know I haven’t yet, but everyone looks to me to resolve things because I don’t get <em>stuck</em>. And yet, I still haven’t figured out how to make a new arm for Shiro that responds to commands directly from his brain without killing him in the process, and it’s driving me nuts.”</p><p>He nodded. “It’s cuz you’re ambitious. You’ve established these insane goals for yourself and think you don’t measure up if you don’t meet them.”</p><p>“But that’s because there’s so much more I could learn, and I feel like I haven’t learned enough—like I’m not smart enough—because if I was, we wouldn’t even need to entertain transporting him to space. I don’t like being limited in my knowledge. I’m supposed to be a genius; why can’t I figure <em>this</em> out?”</p><p>“Katie…” Lance absentmindedly rubbed at his beard as he took in what she said. “I don’t think it’s because you’re not smart enough. You’re plenty smart.”</p><p>She almost rolled her eyes because she expected the same stupid platitudes and reassurance that did absolutely nothing for her dilemma, but then he spoke again.</p><p>“I think the problem here is you have a fear of failure because that’s not something you’ve experienced in life enough.” He rubbed the back of his neck when she gave him a baffled look.</p><p>“A fear of failure. What?”</p><p>“Hear me out. You’re stressed about the Shiro issue because your whole life, there’s nothing that your brain hasn’t been able to solve. You designed an extraordinary cloaking mechanism at sixteen, right? You finished post-secondary training in two years instead of the usual four. You’re the youngest person to ever become a superior officer in the science department at nineteen. And that’s not even getting into all your accolades, inventions, plus your PhDs <em>which</em> you got by twenty-two.”</p><p>“You know… pointing out the things I’ve done in the past really isn’t helping,” she muttered crossly.</p><p>“But that’s just it. I’m saying you’ve been competing with <em>yourself</em> for years, and now you feel this insane pressure to keep one-upping your previous accomplishments. The fact it hasn’t happened is throwing you for a loop. No one sees failure when they look at this situation. But you’re scared because admitting ‘defeat’ is losing against yourself, which you’re seeing as failure,” Lance said gently, his gaze imploring. “And it’s understandable—you’re a genius and need to challenge yourself—but you don’t have to be perfect all the time. Messing up, having setbacks, and asking for help is normal. Might even get you farther since you’ll have more to learn from. And of course, you’re not <em>normal</em>, per se; you’re extraordinary, but you’re still human. Give yourself a chance to be that.”</p><p>Katie exhaled slowly, frowning as she dropped her gaze to the vinyl flooring. She was completely astounded by his words, her heart hammering in her chest because the advice resonated with her pretty substantially. She almost couldn’t believe the problem in this whole situation was internal, not external, but it made so much sense.</p><p>How in the world had he pinpointed it so acutely?</p><p>“What’s up?” he asked, confused by her silence.</p><p>“Lance, that’s…” Exactly what she needed to hear. She brought her gaze back to his, feeling like some huge weight lodged in her chest had loosened up. “I… How did you…?”</p><p>Lance shrugged a shoulder with a sheepish smile. “I like to think I understand people pretty well. And you’re pretty easy to read actually.”</p><p>“I’ve <em>never</em> heard anyone say that before. It’s usually the opposite.”</p><p>“Then they’re not putting in the effort to try.”</p><p>“Umm…” She chewed on the inside of her cheek, though she smiled gratefully. “What you said about the whole… you know. Thanks, Lance. I really appreciate it.”</p><p>“…Enough to apologise~?”</p><p>“Ask me again at your next visit,” she drawled. “Full disclosure: I’m going to say no.”</p><p>“Eh, worth a try.” He grinned though, looking quite pleased. “Doesn’t matter anyway. My wonderfully snippy, snarky Katie is back!”</p><p>Katie turned around to look at his chart, nervous butterflies flitting about in her stomach. “Go stand over there so I can do the skin exam.”</p><p>“Sure thing, Doc.”</p><p>Lance rose from his seat on the stool, wincing as he straightened out his back, and moved to the spot she pointed out by the side of the hospital bed.</p><p>“You know, your work ethic is amazing, but when was the last time you can really say you did some Dumb Shit™?”</p><p>“When I hacked your files maybe.”</p><p>“I meant dumb, goofy shit that was an absolute clusterfuck of a mess and ended badly.”</p><p>“Ehhh… well…” She picked at her lip, wracking her brain for something as she perused the results from the cryo-cleansing chamber. “When I was twelve, I stole Matt’s real glasses to try to make them shoot lasers and destroyed them. He opted to have corrective surgery after that.”</p><p>“<em>Twelve</em>? Okay, that’s way too long ago. So it’s official: we’re planning a heist.”</p><p>“Depends on what you want to steal,” she idly remarked, humouring the stupidity of the comment. “If it’s anything cliché, you’re on your own.”</p><p>“Well, I had this idea a long time ago, though most of it was with me as the protagonist saving a damsel in distress, but now that you’re on board we can actually steal something more valuable since you’ve got those hacking skills. A deep space heist would be pretty cool too. Kill two birds with one stone.”</p><p>Katie nodded absentmindedly as he prattled on about his heist plans and picked up her scanner by the handle on both sides before turning to him. She typically liked silence during exams—and didn’t really engage in conversation with patients mostly because most everyone bored her—but she felt easily drawn out of her shell around Lance. Sure, he said dumb stuff sometimes, but she found him funny and charismatic. And on top of that, he wasn’t offended by her being herself either, which was nice since very few people seemed to actually like her personality for whatever reason.</p><p>And she enjoyed his company a lot. It was the first time in a while she felt like she wanted to sit down and chat with someone she didn’t really know for hours about anything. Katie had had the wrong idea about him.</p><p>He was nice. Yes, dopey, a little arrogant, and mildly annoying at times, but he had a good heart, and she was drawn to his warmth and sense of humour.</p><p>“You must really like my face. You’ve been staring at it for the past handful of seconds.”</p><p>She blinked, instantly dropping her gaze to the scanner’s screen. “Only because it’s so punchable.”</p><p>“So you admit you <em>were</em> staring at me, then,” he countered, a shit-eating grin on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.</p><p>“Because you effectively wrote fanfiction about yourself in a heist scenario. It’s so outlandish I was stupefied.”</p><p>“Liar. You were in a daze. I know interest when I see it.”</p><p>“You’re asking for a hell day,” Katie muttered darkly as she tapped her foot impatiently. “I can make this part really hurt, you know?”</p><p>Lance eyed the machine warily. “You’re acting prickly, but I bet you’d really miss it if I wasn’t bugging you.”</p><p>“Having peace in my life seems like the better deal, to be honest.”</p><p>“I’m a healthy challenge. And speaking of: no one’s going to fault you if you need to take a break from all of it. Gives you a chance to see other perspectives for a bit. You spend too much time in your own head.”</p><p>Katie peered at the screen of her machine as she held it up at him to make sure the fluorescent cell imaging was working. “I guess it would help to go out a bit.”</p><p>“Yeah…” Lance replied, his tone far too innocent as he scratched at the bandages over his shoulder. “Helps even more if it’s on a <em>date</em> and preferably with a certain adventurous Cuban who knows all the best hangout spots in this city.”</p><p>“Take off your pants.”</p><p>Lance choked on his spit and coughed a bit, for some reason taken aback by her order. It was impossible not to snicker at the dumbfounded look on his face.</p><p>“Wha—? In a… in this hospital room? Not that I mind; that’s pretty hot, but…”</p><p>“I said take your pants off, not get naked! I’m not coming on to you, you goof. You’re in the middle of an examination; I need to inspect your skin for lingering external contaminants <em>including </em>your legs.”</p><p>“You’re the one who worded it that way with no lead-in! What’s a poor guy to think?”</p><p>“The poor guy clearly <em>doesn’t</em>…”</p><p>“Ah. Ye olde Katie Holt wit. You know, I’m convinced you’d be <em>that</em> sharp-tongued princess in some TV show about monarchy.”</p><p>Katie eyed him with knit brows, really trying to figure out where the hell he came up with this stuff. Honestly, she was convinced Lance was just as nerdy as she was, but he was shielded by his pilot profession while her “nerdy” career choice amplified people’s perceptions.</p><p>“Now you’re making fanfiction about me? Lance, strip already.” She urged him to get on with her request through a pointed look. “Do you have metal encased in your body in any location other than behind your ear?”</p><p>“Not that I know of.”</p><p>He unclipped his belt and unbuttoned his pants slowly, steadily holding her gaze the whole time. She sighed and raised a brow, refusing to let him get to her. Lance divested himself of his pants and put them in the biohazard bag with his shirt and came back to his spot, standing at his full height with something of a smile while he waited for her to proceed. His trunks had blue lions on them, which would be amusing, if she wasn’t unnerved by the somewhat indecent look on his face when she approached him.</p><p>Lance was wiry when they were teens, but he filled out nicely over the years. She found him pretty damn attractive for not being her ideal type.</p><p>(Then again, Shiro was her ideal type and no one looked like that so it was kind of impossible to fill).</p><p>It bugged her that for however many times she’d done this and maintained cool professionalism in full to the point of irking her patients, she couldn’t quite look Lance in the eye right now. Or any other part of him, really.</p><p>“What do you need me to do?” he asked in a tone that made goosebumps rise on the back of her neck.</p><p>“…Turn around. And assume a T pose while you’re at it.”</p><p>She swallowed, staunchly avoiding Lance’s gaze, though she could see the little quirk of his lips out of the corner of her eyes as he followed her directions.</p><p>“How do you do this with people much taller than you?” He gestured to himself before holding his arms out from his side. “Exhibit A.”</p><p>She didn’t normally do this part but…</p><p>“I climb on the stool. <em>Don’t</em> you dare laugh,” she quickly added.</p><p>“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Said with all the levity in the world that let her know he was definitely going to. “Kind of random question: but did you know you have a couple secret admirers in other departments?”</p><p>“How do you know that?”</p><p>“Just rumours on the grapevine.” He shrugged. “There are quite a few people who think you’re cute. Not sure how I feel about possible competition though…”</p><p>“I’ve gotten a couple emails in the past. And I’m indifferent, because they don’t know anything about me and we likely won’t get along,” she remarked, ignoring his comment as she stooped and slowly dragged her scanner up his calves and legs, his skin appearing purple from the light. The fluorescence showed no signs of extraterrestrial microbes on the screen. “I don’t know what compelled them to send those messages through our professional emails either.”</p><p>“It’s not like they have your personal email or phone number. Speaking of…”</p><p>“No. You’re the kind of guy who’ll constantly send stupid memes, and I don’t like my text inbox cluttered.”</p><p>“First of all, my memes are masterpieces. And second, how do I get in contact with my doctor outside of appointments then?”</p><p>“Considering I’m a clinical researcher, and not your doctor, you shouldn’t need to. Email me your questions through the appropriate channel, and I’ll answer them during appropriate work hours.” Katie stepped up onto her stool and continued her scanning, this time to inspect his arms and back. “You haven’t earned my phone number.”</p><p>“<em>Yet</em>. I think you’re quite fond of me. Your vitriol towards me is no longer as strong as it used to be.”</p><p>“It’s because you’re like a zit. Inconveniencing, bugs you while it’s there, but at some point you get used to it, because it eventually goes away.”</p><p>“That’s a new one.” Lance laughed. “Not bad.”</p><p>“Thanks,” she intoned. “I’ve been inspired recently by one particular nuisance.”</p><p>He hummed. “So regarding this whole ‘<em>suitor’</em> thing… do you actually wish no one was attracted to you or something? Or do you hate when people show interest in you?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t be so annoyed by their initial showing of interest if there wasn’t such a staunch difference in interest after they get to know me a bit, I guess. I get it. People tend to be attracted to looks first, but I’m tired of them acting like I fooled them with my personality or something. There’s nothing wrong with me. Not my problem they got the wrong idea of who I am.”</p><p>“Their loss,” Lance responded, his voice softer. “Your intelligence is damn attractive, honestly.”</p><p>She paused in stepping off her stool, her brows furrowing in surprise. “What?”</p><p>He glanced over his shoulder and the look on his face made her face heat.</p><p>“…That’s some corny shit, Lance. New rule: no talking during the exam.” Katie chuckled anxiously, though her voice came out more breathy than she wanted it to. “I’m done with this side.”</p><p>Lance pretended to zip his lips as he turned to face her and resumed his position so she could get to her observation. Katie started up again from the ground up, bathing his skin in fluorescent light, though she noted her hands were just a bit shaky. Really, it was ridiculous that she was so nervous doing a job she’d been doing for more than a year at this point. But it really didn’t help that Lance was following her every movement, perfectly quiet, and she almost wished she hadn’t asked him not to speak because his constant chatter had to be better than this silent tension.</p><p>Katie got up on the stool to continue and dragged the scanner along his arms. “You know, you don’t have to bore a hole in my soul while I work.”</p><p>“Where else am I supposed to look? Pretty sure anywhere south of your neck will get me slapped.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” she muttered, keeping her eyes down on the machine as she started her ascent up his torso because being on the stool put her pretty much face to face with him. “Just not at me.”</p><p>“There’s nothing else as pretty in the room.”</p><p>She lifted her eyes for a moment, but the second their eyes met she snapped them away.</p><p>“Again with the corniness. You’re literally going to make me vomit.”</p><p>“Note to self,” Lance said, clearly having a great deal of fun. “Katie also can’t take a compliment. One must ease her into them.”</p><p>“I can too!”</p><p>“You’ve taken none of mine.”</p><p>“That’s because you’re being all— I don’t know!” Katie finished checking him and powered down her machine. “I have no clue how I’m supposed to respond to— <em>aagh</em>!”</p><p>She meant to step off the stool, except it slid out from under her feet as she was moving and she went careening into Lance with an awkward squawk. He caught her around the waist in alarm, but not before her imaging scanner whacked him in the face when she swung her arms out, and he stumbled backwards, landing on the hospital bed and wheezing from landing on his back.</p><p>“My poor money making face is going to be covered in purple bruises tomorrow,” Lance lamented, his voice drifting right in her ear.</p><p>Katie inhaled sharply and pulled herself up from where she’d sprawled on top of him and became acutely aware of Lance’s hands still resting on the small of her back. They eyed each other in silence, though a voice in the back of Katie’s mind was telling her to <em>move</em>.</p><p>“There’s no bruise there. Birthday crisis averted.”</p><p>A slow smile crept on his lips. “You know it’s my birthday tomorrow?”</p><p>“It’s on your records.”</p><p>“Didn’t know you would have noticed that. Seems like something you would have deemed more trouble than it’s worth,” he pointed out, rightfully, because she didn’t normally pay attention to the small personal details at the top of the charts. “So what’s the gift then?”</p><p>“The silence I requested during the examination sounds like a good start…”</p><p>“A gift for <em>me</em>.”</p><p>“Let me guess: you want that apology.”</p><p>“Cute.” He quirked a brow, the beginnings of a crooked smirk appearing on his face “But not really what I had in mind.”</p><p>Someone knocked on the door. A lab technician walked in with a labelled glass medicine bottle of Katie’s decontamination compound, went still as he stared at them, and then spun around in the next second with a gasp.</p><p>“You forgot this in the lab, but sorry!” He stepped back out of the room and all but fled. “I’ll just leave this at the front desk!”</p><p>Katie clambered back onto her feet and away from Lance as fast as possible and red-faced. She was mortified; she knew exactly what it looked like from that angle. Lance clearly did too, but from the way he looked like he was fighting an urge to laugh, she could tell he found it funny.</p><p>“Well that must be a real awkward sight to walk into,” he muttered.</p><p>“For fuck’s sake!”</p><p>Katie shoved her scanner back in its case and rushed out of the room to the nurse’s station to try to catch her lab technician. But the damage was already done because the few nurses at the front were all watching her approach with sly smiles.</p><p>“We can cover for you if you need some privacy, Katie.”</p><p>“He’s a cutie, so I don’t blame you,” the other nurse said.</p><p>“We weren’t doing anything.” Katie staunchly denied and reached over the counter of the station to pat around for the bottle. “I fell, that’s it.”</p><p>Merla looked up from a document she was reading. “It’s not technically against garrison fraternisation policy considering you’re not in the same department or division, and he’s definitely not your superior officer. And if we’re getting <em>really</em> technical, you’re a researcher, not his doctor. So green light’s lit if you want to pursue this. But preferably not in the hospital please?”</p><p>“There was nothing of the sort going on that requires that reminder!”</p><p>Katie grabbed the bottle and stormed away, irate, especially because she just knew the more she denied it, the more they’d think there <em>was</em> something going on. Plus her neck and face were red, and it was hard to state her case when she looked so guilty in the first place.</p><p>“I hope you’re happy,” she said unceremoniously as she barged back into Lance’s hospital room. He was still sitting on the bed, though trying and failing to scratch an itch on his back. “My professional reputation has been ruined.”</p><p>“Can’t say I’m happy to hear that at all, but on the other hand… I got to hold you in my arms for a bit. It was quite nice.”</p><p>“Your priorities are wrong. The nurses are out there spreading rumours that we were hooking up or something else inappropriate.”</p><p>He crossed his ankles, legs idly swaying from side to side. “I’ll let them know it wasn’t what it looked like too.”</p><p>“You better.” Katie set the small bottle with his decontaminant on the small night stand by the head of the bed. “This compound is designed to collect waste from your body. Once you drink it, in the next twenty-four hours, it’ll circulate your system, and eventually it’ll end up in your kidneys for filtering so it can be excreted from the body in urine.”</p><p>“So I’ll be pissing pink for the rest of the day?” Lance chuckled as he picked it up and inspected the magenta concoction through the transparent glass. “Pretty funny.”</p><p>“Yes, you’ll be <em>pissing pink</em>.” Her lips twitched as she secured her scanner and shut the case. She picked up the bag with Lance’s clothes to be inspected and set them on top of the case to take with her as well. “In the meantime, the nurse will provide you all provisions you need for your overnight stay and someone will be by later to complete your mental evaluation. We encourage you to go outside for fresh air anytime you wish. Try not to get your back wet when you shower. Oh, and make sure anytime you do urinate, it’s in one of the many cups we’ve stocked in your attached bathroom.”</p><p>He unscrewed the bottle’s lid and took a cursory sniff of the liquid. “Smells like strawberry.”</p><p>“Had to make it more appealing for patients. It was yellow before. They were understandably repulsed. Any questions for me?”</p><p>“As a matter of fact, I do. What’s my birthday gift?” Lance asked with a playful smile.</p><p>“Here, you utter child.” Katie gave him a dry look as she reached into her front pocket for one of the lollipops and tossed it to him. He caught it and snorted when he saw what it was. “These are normally for the youngest cadets, but a juvenile adult patient works too.”</p><p>“I do like lollipops, but…” He twirled it in his fingertips and glanced up at her from beneath his eyelashes.</p><p>She rolled her eyes. “You are such a nuisance. What do you even want?”</p><p>“Is a date out of the question?”</p><p>Katie shifted her weight to her other foot, hand on her hip and blank expression set.</p><p>“Okay then… I’ll think about it and get back to you.”</p><p>“Lance. Why are you so…” She clammed up.</p><p>“Suave, charming, <em>adorable</em>?” He set the sucker and bottle back on the nightstand and rested his elbows on his lap.</p><p>“<em>Forward</em>.” She blushed in spite of herself. “I mean, you’re… <em>interested</em> in me—for lack of a better term—and we’ve only encountered each other a few times now so I don’t know why. And to be honest, it kind of seems like you’re playing games with me.”</p><p>“I can see how it might look that way, but I’m just the kind of person where when you know, you know. You know?”</p><p>“You know what? And based on what?”</p><p>“Fate. The skies. The alignment of the stars,” he said dramatically as he gestured to the sky outside.</p><p>“Fate,” she repeated, unimpressed as she crossed her arms and tapped a finger on her bicep. “You were literally calling Allura your soulmate months ago. And I cockblocked you. Significantly.”</p><p>“Funny how people’s feelings change through time because of the events that put certain people in their lives.” Lance leaned back on his elbows on the bed, his sarcastic drawl making Katie purse her lips. “It’s such a peculiar phenomenon, isn’t it? Fate.”</p><p>“You’re a peculiar phenomenon, you moron.” Katie’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t get you.”</p><p>“Well… call me crazy, but a date could resolve that.”</p><p>“What the hell are you even attracted to?”</p><p>“Ahh. Don’t think you’d appreciate <em>that</em> answer. It’s not quite suitable for work,” he joked.</p><p>“You know what?” She grinned at him, all teeth. “I think it’s about time I made good on my neurotoxin threat.”</p><p>“Umm, let’s not get hasty.” Lance shrugged, the gleam in his eyes almost bashful. “I just think you’re fascinating, Katie.”</p><p>“Try again. I’m not some mythical creature to be studied.”</p><p>“No… but you’re ambitious. Strong-willed. Constantly irritated. There’s this soft, vulnerable side to you you try to hide even though you’re not good at it. You care a lot, even though you always try to hide that too.” He met her gaze with a soft smile. “And your real smile lights up your eyes. It’s hard to look away.”</p><p>Her heart skipped a beat. How could he just say stuff like that without hesitation?</p><p>“I want us to get to know each other. And preferably not just because you analysed my pee samples or because I sold my soul to your best friend for scraps of information about you.”</p><p>It’d been a long time since she let someone new into her life, much less someone who was showing interest in her after the fact. It wasn’t like she was against it. It was just that Lance made her nervous because he could somehow read her like a book. A good kind of nervous. The kind that spread warmth through her, but she just didn’t know how to navigate this.</p><p>“Once the, umm, the… the decontaminant is no longer being secreted in your urine,” she stammered, turning to leave, “uh, someone’ll come back and, you know, draw blood one more time to make sure you’re not harbouring any further particles from space in your body. Kay? I’m heading home, so a night shift nurse will be checking up on you periodically.”</p><p>“Don’t forget to stop by and say goodnight before you leave~”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>She lifted her hand in a careless wave as she left the room, though she did take a peek at him once more and returned his smile before continuing on her way.</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>Lab analysis the next day was a little piled up, not to mention her mother needed her to review some cell cultures treated with compounds made from substances from space. After that, she'd been tasked to analyse the blood of the Puigian students who were waiting to complete their physical evaluation to be onboarded for the fall semester study-abroad programme at their garrison. Katie didn’t get a chance to make her rounds with her patients and ended up shuttling the work over to her trained assistants. She’d spent so much of her morning and afternoon running tests in the lab to the point her goggles made indentations in her skin.</p><p>But when she was paged that Lance’s 24-hour observation was done, Katie set everything aside to go complete his visit.</p><p>Lance’s tests and lab results showed no signs of contaminant on his person when Katie checked, and she grabbed his decontaminated flight suit and garrison uniform in their vacuum seal bag as she headed upstairs to confirm the patient discharge. She was behind the front desk picking up some extra dressing and supplies for the burn when Merla suddenly stopped right next to her, beaming at her.</p><p>It instantly made Katie suspicious.</p><p>“…Why are you looking at me like that?”</p><p>“A little birdie told me it was Lance’s birthday today.”</p><p>“I’m aware…”</p><p>“And since he’s been such a marvellous patient all evening, we nurses all decided to pitch in for a gift to get him. But we want <em>you</em> to give it to him,” Merla responded.</p><p>She <em>really </em>didn’t like that twinkle in her eyes. “What is this gift exactly?”</p><p>“Nothing much.” Merla held up the small gift bag, the corners of gift paper sticking out over the top along with a mini mylar balloon on a stick. “A card—I signed your name for you—prepaid gift card, and another little thing. We just wanted to show him appreciation for his cheerful attitude and the flowers he’s brightened up our nurse’s station with.”</p><p>“I hope the other little thing isn’t a pack of <em>condoms </em>or something. And any one of you could give him the gift.” She shifted the supplies into her other hand on top of his clothes for ease of transport. “He relayed to you <em>nothing happened</em> yesterday, correct?”</p><p>“Yupp, made it totally clear it was a misunderstanding. You’re still doing it though.”</p><p>“Why me?”</p><p>“Because I received a call from IT regarding a bizarre breach in the server a while ago that somehow deleted itself. A network key was bypassed in the garrison’s system through the med bay. Now, normally, it wouldn’t worry me, but… he reported the computer in question was <em>your</em> lab’s desktop. I told him this wasn’t something to worry about, considering you know your way around computers, but oddly enough, you never reported any issues or strange activity to me. Now I’m starting to wonder if IT <em>should</em> have a second look…”</p><p>And then had the nerve to smile and blink innocently.</p><p>“This is why I can’t stand you, Merla.”</p><p>“You don’t become head nurse and alien healthcare liaison by not paying attention to your staff. We Alteans are very astute,” she replied glibly as she pushed the straps into Katie’s free hand. “Of course, if you’re opposed, we won’t force you, but it’d be a bit of a shame. I think you guys have a great rapport. And I think it would make his day, especially since he’s spent half of it in the hospital.”</p><p>Katie opened her mouth and then closed it, feeling her face start to heat. She chewed on the corner of her lower lip as she pondered the possible consequences of undertaking this stupidity. It <em>was</em> Lance’s birthday. And she really didn’t mind giving him gift.</p><p>“I can give him the stupid gift.”</p><p>“Always reliable, Katie.” Merla patted the top of her head and headed off with a tablet to go check on a patient.</p><p>Katie made her way to Lance’s room quickly, knowing the sooner she did, the sooner she could get this over with.</p><p>“Happy to report you’ve successfully cleared your decontamination exam,” she said as she knocked and entered the room. Lance was standing by the window in just a towel, a towel also draped on his head, and Katie froze by the door for a beat. “You know, most patients have the decency to at least be dressed when they know the doctor is coming.”</p><p>“My bad. I took a shower and got distracted because my mom called me. Then a nurse came in to take my blood pressure, and I just forgot.”</p><p>“Uh-huh… Did you get enough sleep last night?”</p><p>“Hard to find a good position with my back. But I did sleep like a baby.” He turned to face her as she walked in fully, lifting his hands to rest behind his head until he winced and set them back down. He looked a lot scruffier today, something she couldn’t lie she thought was cute. “Dreamt of stubborn pixies who refuse to say sorry. Oddly enough, they looked like you. Imagine that.”</p><p>“Yeah, imagine that.” She handed him the bags of his clothes, and the wound care supplies. “Decontaminated and cleaned. Here’s extra dressing for your burn, and I included some samples of our balm if you can get someone to apply it on your back. Once a day for fourteen days. If you need to, send me periodic photos of your back to my email. Any current lightheadedness?”</p><p>“I feel fine. Great even. I’m twenty-eight today and have crossed something else off on my bucket list. Only five things left.”</p><p>“Crossed off what?”</p><p>“That’s a secret~” He pulled the towel from the top of his head and tossed it on the bed. Lance took out his uniform from the bags and shook it out. “Also, I figured out the perfect suggestion for non-work-related fun for you. There’s this awesome adult arcade a few blocks away that opened a month ago apparently. You’re competitive and you like video games. Sounds like a perfect place for you to go.”</p><p>It did.</p><p>“Well done. You get <em>two</em> gold stars now,” she replied with hardly a change to her expression.</p><p>“Take that, Keith. I’m the favourite now.” His eyes drifted to the blue party bag. “Is that also for me? You shouldn’t have~”</p><p>“Hmm? Oh. The nurses got this for you.”</p><p>Katie handed it over to him, and he peered inside it after he’d taken it. A crease formed between his brows as he frowned.</p><p>“The nurses got me a box of condoms?” He reached in and took it out, mirth growing in his expression. “Magnum apparently. Not my size, but I’m flattered, I think? Joke gift?”</p><p>Her jaw clenched. “I fucking <em>knew </em>it.”</p><p>“For Lance.” He read the sticky note attached to the side. “Put these to good use, okay? She’s really wound up. Oh wow. This is fucking funny. I’m assuming <em>she</em> is referring to y—”</p><p>“Whenever you’re done getting dressed,” she jerked her thumb towards the door, “meet me at the front desk for your discharge summary. I’ll walk you out.”</p><p>“That’s a first. Are you planning to surprise me with some giant teddy bear or something?”</p><p>She snorted. “Not my style. Hurry up and get dressed.”</p><p>It was oddly quiet at the nurse’s station as she printed out Lance’s results. No one was bustling about which was strange because usually there were at least one or two people talking there or waiting for a patient. She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t investigate because Lance appeared pretty shortly afterwards, fully dressed with his belongings and his gift bag.</p><p>“That was fast.”</p><p>“You’re not a patient person, and this is the first time you’ve wanted to spend time together post-discharge so I’m not missing my chance.”</p><p>He wasn’t even trying to hide how eager he was, which was endearing in its own way, though she still thought him a dork. Once he’d tucked his summary in his bag, they walked out of the med bay together, strolling down the sidewalk leading to the parking lot in the front.</p><p>“Are you okay to drive home? We can arrange for someone to drop you off, or even contact Veronica to get you.”</p><p>“I promise I feel fine.” Lance reassured her, though his lips curved up. “You seem awfully concerned about me.”</p><p>“You have a substantial injury. You went through an entire decontamination procedure for the first time which can cause latent malaise. And you spent half your birthday afternoon in a hospital room with barely any company.”</p><p>“It’s been great so far.”</p><p>“How?”</p><p>“I got to see you.”</p><p>She averted her gaze briefly to the tree. “You’re an idiot.”</p><p>Lance nodded faux sagely. “Probably.”</p><p>They came to a gradual stop by the bench and faced each other. The sunlight was making the blue of his eyes shine, a sight that was hard to turn away from.</p><p>“Okay. This is where I leave you. I was checking your gait and balance. You passed.”</p><p>“Aww, so soon? I barely got five minutes.”</p><p>Behind Lance, she caught sight of the prying eyes of some nurses from a vacant room, each of them pressed against the window and watching in rapt attention.</p><p>A free show for these gossips apparently.</p><p>“Hey. If you’re not too busy,” Lance slipped his hands in his pockets, a somewhat bashful look in his eyes. “Hunk planned a surprise party for me at The Stooge tonight. It’s a bar a little bit from here. You should come. Free drinks until midnight for the party group. They’ve got karaoke.”</p><p>“How is it a surprise if you already know everything about it?”</p><p>“He’s my flatmate, and horrible at keeping secrets. He left his plotting journal on the counter once so I read everything.”</p><p>“Wow. I hope you’ve practiced your fake surprise face.” Katie snickered and shook her head. “And, uh, thanks for the invite, but I’m going to connect with Allura about the Shiro stuff. She knows an Altean scientist on Daibazaal who specialises in body enhancements. She’s apparently the one who worked on Sendak before he went all evil. I think if we worked with Honerva, we could get Shiro an arm in no time. And just for future reference, I don’t <em>sing</em> in public.”</p><p>“Valid. Happy to hear about the solution for Shiro. And that it’s not making you want to claw your hair out anymore.” He ran a hand through his hair with a smile. “I’ll save you a goody bag for next time. Invitation still stands if you do end up wanting to come to the party though.”</p><p> “Lance, umm, about what you said. Yesterday.”</p><p>“I talk a lot. Regarding…?”</p><p>Katie shook her head instead, wiping her clammy hands on her lab coat before holding onto his shoulders and rising to her toes to press a kiss to Lance’s left cheek. She murmured happy birthday as she pulled away, grinning when his brows shot up in astonishment as he touched his face. They both were blushing, and Katie couldn’t hear much over the pounding of her rapid heartbeat in her ear.</p><p>“Thank you, again.”</p><p>“Okay this just totally made my day.” And he really did look so happy it made her happy too. “I kind of feel like you were a few centimetres off to the left though…”</p><p>“Consider this the one and only time you’ll ever get a gift from me.”</p><p>“I’m sure. But at least the memory will last a lifetime. I got a kiss from Katie Holt and lived to tell the tale.”</p><p>His grin was the brightest she’d ever seen, warm and affectionate, and there was a moment where Katie just gazed up at him, her own unstoppable. It was weird how she’d re-met Lance just this year and his smile was definitely engrained in her mind. She honest to goodness <em>knew</em> that it’d really quickly become one of her favourite sights, a sight she wouldn’t mind seeing again and again.</p><p>And <em>that</em> gave her pause.</p><p>“…You should go home, Lance,” she finally said to mask the turbulence of her current thoughts. “You have a not-so-surprise surprise party to go wild at.”</p><p>“That I do,” Lance replied jovially. “See you next time I inevitably end up here.”</p><p>“Yeah. See you next time.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>updated/added a tag</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>IV</p><p> </p><p><em>“Hunk installed a low-power consumption radio powered by the solar panels so we’ll be able to make more frequent contact with Earth during the trip,” </em>Keith grunted, the noise of clanging metal on his end of the line somewhat drowning out his voice. <em>“Finished packing yet?”</em></p><p>Katie affirmed his question with a noncommittal hum as she unlocked her lab’s office and stepped in, instantly glad that the space heaters had warmed up what was usually a freezing room. She pulled off her scarf and jacket with a yawn and hung both on the coat rack by the door. Katie pulled on her lab coat and turned to her desk to check on evening tasks, only to pause when she spotted some pink flower resting innocuously on her desk.</p><p>“Unbelievable…” she muttered, picking it up and reading the small attached note in Lance’s handwriting asking if this was her favourite flower. It was also signed with his flight crew’s number, AXD-457, so she could have their crew code if she needed to access comm units to reach him. “How does he do it?”</p><p>
  <em>“Secret gift again? So when are you gonna tell me who your secret boyfriend is?”</em>
</p><p>“You didn’t tell me about your relationship for years. You can wait.”</p><p>Not that she was in a relationship with Lance, per se, but their association existed somewhere between acquaintances and an interest beyond just friendship—for lack of a better term—so it just made sense to refer to it as a relationship, strange as it was. Nadia kept teasing her that she was being <em>courted</em>, which made sense to Katie too.</p><p>Keith laughed. <em>“I bet it’s some annoying guy. A Lance type.”</em></p><p>“I have work to get done, Keith,” she replied in a measured tone, doing her best to keep her response nonchalant because he was pretty on-the-nose with his guess. “I’ll call you tonight about trip logistics, okay?”</p><p>They bid each other farewell, and Katie sighed as she plopped into her cushy chair to pull up her patient list and analyse their most recent lab results. It was going to be a pretty long night shift. She only had one month of night shifts every half year, but she always hated them because they always screwed up her sleep schedule.</p><p>(Not that she slept much anyway).</p><p>But she supposed Lance’s absence was tempered by knowing that he was thinking of her too even though every time he’d stopped by the med bay, she’d been holed up in the lab doing research. Multiple days now, she’d come to her office with something weird from space to dissect or analyse on her work station. He must have had a mouse delivering these plants through the vents or something, because <em>no one</em> could get in her iris-ID office, yet like clockwork, she got something every week. Every once in a while, it was flora from outer space, and Katie always brought those home and kept them in a steadily-growing bouquet by the window.</p><p>She’d decided next time Lance showed up, she’d make sure to let him know that two of the space flowers exacerbated her allergies and gave her a stuffy nose and itchy eyes. No doubt he’d probably have some doofy response to that, maybe crack a joke that she was lying to save face because the gift made her emotional. Or some comment that if she had texted him her allergies, he could have avoided some flowers in a too-obvious ploy to get her to reveal her phone number.</p><p>The notes she kept in a small shoebox under her bed. Some were little snippets about the planet he got certain artefacts from; sometimes it was a really cringe-y poem that ended in a date request; but most were super cheesy, overly romantic drivel. (That she kind of secretly liked). Like that one note where he said he missed hearing her voice that made her heart race. And all of them were signed with his phone’s ID. He’d been going on a lot more missions now that kept him off Earth for extended periods of time.</p><p>She was tempted to contact Lance. Annoying as he was, she missed him.</p><p>Katie still wasn’t really sure what Lance was to her. She knew she liked him to some extent, wasn’t sure what that was. She was attracted to him. She liked talking to him. And she agreed they got on well. She felt comfortable with him pretty quickly compared to how long it took with some other people.</p><p>For the most part, she’d kind of been seeing where things would go, and to an extent, tried to gauge Lance’s interest. With the excitement of travelling in space and his flirtatious personality, she’d half expected him to forget all about her, but if anything, he’d been sending even more stuff than usual.</p><p>If he didn’t return by the end of the week, she’d text him to let him know about her upcoming trip to Daibazaal to observe Shiro’s surgery and learn from the Galran, Altean, and Olkari scientists who were teaming up to perform it and design his arm. She had to study the schematics of Shiro’s new arm from its installation so she could do regular tune-ups here on Earth. It was the first time this type of procedure was ever being performed on a Terran and many prolific scientists in the galaxy were coming to observe the proceedings in interest. After months of setting it up and finalising the procedure, they were finally moving forward with the set date being in roughly a month. Shiro was enthusiastic, and had been flown to Daibazaal at the end of summer for the lengthy pre-operative evaluation, though Katie did feel a little bad that he was something of a guinea pig.</p><p>And though she was travelling to outer space with Keith and she would get to see Allura again—and she was ecstatic—she’d wanted to tell Lance for a while about everything. She wasn’t there when he was being treated, even though Merla told her he’d sought her out every time he was in the med bay. With her impending trip, she wouldn’t have a chance to see him for a while and she wanted to see him at least once. The trip itself was only going to be two months and she’d be back before the end of the year, but there was a part of her that felt it was Lance’s business to know too.</p><p>At the very least, just so he knew she wouldn’t be in to get the weird stuff he sent.</p><p>Katie was just about to review the notes left by the day shift lab technicians, when her pager started violently vibrating on her desk. She snatched it up, alarm raising her brows as she skimmed the message.</p><p>
  <em>ICU NOW ROOM 15</em>
</p><p>She left her office immediately, sprinting up the stairs two at a time just as an overhead pager requested any backup surgeons on the Garrison premises to report to the med bay.</p><p>There was a moment when Katie raced into the ICU and watched the bustle of medics and nurses rushing down the hall and barking orders, trails of dripped blood being cleaned off the floor as quickly as possible, and nearly frantic tension in the air that momentarily made her mind go blank in confusion from the chaos. She’d just passed this floor an hour earlier, and now there seemed to be a full-blown emergency.</p><p>Merla raced by, relaying information to the medics wheeling a groaning pilot in his hospital bed to the OR. His chest was bleeding profusely, unable to be staunched with pressure a medic was keeping, and the sight of the bubbling, bloody wound snapped Katie out of her stupefaction.</p><p>Her stomach roiled, a nervous anticipation making sweat pool under her armpits as she hurried to Room 15.</p><p>She heard shouts drifting down the hallway before she even rounded the corner into the room. When she did, she spotted Ryan Kinkade cringing in his hospital bed, nearly convulsing, eyes clenched so tight in enormous pain. The medics were trying to hold his arms down along with a nurse, but he was lashing out, arms swinging so wildly they only barely missed being clipped.</p><p>“What the hell is going on?!” Katie called out, rushing over to him and pressing her fingers to his pulse. “Kinkade. <em>Ryan</em>, can you hear me?”</p><p>“He was exposed to some gas that the aliens used!” one of the scared new nurses answered, moving just in time as the pole holding the IV fluids was knocked over and hit the floor with a clang. “Blood pressure is skyrocketing. It’s getting worse! Should we sedate him?”</p><p>He was clearly hyperventilating, taking in much too rapidfire, shallow breaths because he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. She didn’t even have to finish checking his pulse to see how tachycardic he was. The heart monitor was beeping far too rapidly. Katie opened one of his eyes and his pupils were blown completely wide. Even when she shone her light in the eye, there was no change.</p><p>“We need to do something!”</p><p>Katie’s brows furrowed as his body was wracked with tremors and he gasped for breath, face twisting up in pain.</p><p>“…legs… my…” he croaked. “Can’t… legs…”</p><p>His body was entirely too hot, only made more clear by his profuse sweating. She couldn’t see any visible trauma to his body. This was clearly due to elevated release of epinephrine. But it didn’t make sense. His adrenaline was at an all-time high, and it wasn’t dropping, almost as if his body was sending continuous signals to his pituitary gland to release more. It was like the feedback loop had gotten turned off. Something unnatural was causing this. But it was hard to figure out what had happened when all he was mentioning was his…</p><p>“His legs…” Katie’s eyes went wide, watching as he lashed out in a desperate convulsion, though his legs didn’t move at all. “Inject him with a numbing agent in his lumbar spine. We need to cut into his back. <em>Now</em>.”</p><p>The medic trying to hold Kinkade down nodded and rushed to get the syringe and the supplies they needed.</p><p>“Bones… I need calcium.” She turned to the training nurse who was standing in the middle of the room, completely wide-eyed. Katie grabbed a pair of gloves and antiseptic wipes, pulling open drawers until she found a package of steel forceps and scalpel in the storage. “Go to my lab downstairs and tell the assistant I sent you for calcium carbonate. We keep extra in the storage. Put about a 5 cm layer at the bottom of a 5 quart quarantine container and come back asap!”</p><p>The nurse ran off, and Katie turned back to Kinkade, helping the two medics shift his body so the medic could push the syringe in his back and administer it.</p><p>“Ryan, listen to me; you’re going to be okay, but what I’m about to do might hurt a bit.” She glanced up at the medic, nodding when she’d pulled it out the needle from his back. “Anaesthesia might not be able to numb all of this. I think you’ve been infected by an alien and this thing might kill you if we wait any longer.”</p><p>His hand shot out and gripped her coat, nearly yanking her off balance. He took in a weak breath and nodded.</p><p>“Turn him over on his stomach fully,” she said to one medic while rucking up the back of his shirt higher, while the other tore open the scalpel’s packaging. “Need a midline incision.”</p><p>She got out the forceps and watched as the medic cleaned the area and cut through his lower back. Katie swallowed thickly, releasing an imperceptible breath as blood leaked from the wound, trickling along his skin, though the other medic was there, cleaning it off as they proceeded. She could deal with blood. It was any punctured skin that made her stomach roll. Kinkade shuddered, but otherwise was largely silent, even when the medic separated the skin and carefully spread apart the cords of muscles.</p><p>And there, attached to his spine right between L1-L2 was this weird-looking mushroom cap alien of an angry red colour and pulsing. It had a bunch of tentacles inserted through the cartilage, attached to the spinal cord. Every few seconds, it grew just marginally in size.</p><p>“<em>What the fuck is that</em>?!” the medic cleaning off blood exclaimed, face turning pale at the sight.</p><p>Katie didn’t know, but it was clearly feeding off of him and now she was convinced it was going to kill him if they kept that there. She felt like she was going to vomit.</p><p>The training nurse ran back in with the container, took one look at the bloody open back and the jellyfish thing, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out and hit the ground with a thud.</p><p>“For fuck’s sake…” one medic muttered, moving from his spot for a moment to check the guy. He grabbed the container and walked back over, setting it on the bed and opening the cap. “We’ll get him in a second.”</p><p>Katie leaned down to speak directly Kinkade’s ear. “Clench your teeth as hard as you can. I’m getting this thing out of you right now.”</p><p>She’d thought the head would be jellylike and possibly too squishy to get a firm grip on, but it was surprisingly hard as a brick when she grasped it with the forceps. She jiggled it until they heard the release of air from the loosened suction. Once she was sure it wasn’t going to move or try to escape, she pulled it out slowly, careful not to cause the tentacles to break off in his body. It took everything in her power to keep her hands from shaking as each tentacle detached one by one.</p><p>Kinkade’s howls rang through the room, and the other medics had to push on his shoulders to keep him still. There was a disgusting pop when she’d gotten it completely out, and the thing started screeching, squirming in the grip, tentacles wiggling around. Kinkade stopped jerking around with a low groan, only mild remnants of his tremors remaining as the other medics jumped to clean up and disinfect the area to seal the incision.</p><p>She dropped the alien into the quarantine container and shut the lid. It settled in the calcium, turning green and shrinking as its tentacles retracted into its body and went completely still, appearing as if a rock.</p><p>There was a moment when they all just quietly stared at it, breathing a little hard. The silence was broken by Kinkade’s weak groan breaking through the shock of this bizarre creature.</p><p>He chuckled. “Can move my legs again…”</p><p>Kinkade’s tense body slowly loosened as he sagged on the bed with another relieved groan, his breathing stabilising and heart rate gradually slowing on the monitor. Katie stood there, her pulse thrumming in her ears, her own adrenaline leaving her body so swiftly she stumbled backwards and bumped into the cabinet behind her.</p><p>“Dr. Holt. Katie.” The medic neatly finished sealing up the suture and cut the line. “You’re kind of green in the face. Are you okay?”</p><p>She nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak yet, especially when she could feel the bile at the base of her throat, just waiting for her to let her guard down. She hadn’t had emergencies of that sort in a long time. And especially not one where she’d somewhat guessed what to do with this thing. If she’d been wrong about the alien or any of the rest of this…</p><p>Katie shuddered at the thought.</p><p>“When you get the chance, have someone take this alien into our lab to go in our quarantine pods. Get some decontaminant and add it to Ryan’s IV fluid as well. We don’t know the remnants of what it did so we need him on careful observation for the next twenty-four hours. I need blood drawn for a full lab panel and sent to the lab for immediate analysing, please.” She cleared her throat and straightened up, mentally logging that his blood pressure had dropped to normal levels, his breathing was normal, heartrate normal. From what she was seeing thus far, he was going to be okay. “Once he’s awake, we need to run a full physical on him. Keep monitoring him and make sure he’s comfortable. I’ll try to figure out what this thing is. I’ll be back sometime tonight; I just… I need some air.”</p><p>Katie tossed her gloves and properly disposed of the forceps too before leaving the room to find Merla and figure out what the hell was going on. James Griffin was standing outside in the window of the room, horror on his face and pale as all hell.</p><p>“Is he…” James whispered, barely able to stand up straight and gripping the wall like it was the only thing keeping him upright. “Ry— Kinkade. Is… is he…?”</p><p>“Alive and recovering. Once he’s stable and comfortable, we’ll allow visitors.”</p><p>James practically sagged into himself with relief, closing his eyes as he turned and rested his forehead against the window.</p><p>Another patient further down the hall was coding, and a collection of nurses and medics raced over to that room to take care of them. Katie frowned as she walked on down the hall to find Merla. There seemed to be a lot of visitors, some of whom were in the waiting room, sniffling to themselves or consoling each other. The only time she’d seen something like this was when she’d been in her training and a whole flight had had a bad encounter with a Weblum, but this seemed much worse.</p><p>She spotted Merla by the nurse’s station, reading from a list, her composed demeanour marred by her dishevelled hair, the worried frown, and the blood on her frock.</p><p>“Our OR is full. We’ve got three in critical condition who need treatment asap, but all our surgeons are currently operating. The soonest any of our backup can come is in an hour it seems. Allura’s on her way too,” Merla said to the nurse she was speaking with, though she nodded at Katie when they made eye contact. “I don’t know what else we can do while we wait for backup. This is crazy. They went to fix up the omega shield and the entire crew ends up getting wiped like this.”</p><p>“I’ve been running around for the past hour, and it feels like we’ve made no progress…” The nurse she was speaking with ran a shaking hand through her hair. “I just don’t want to lose anyone, but I feel like we need to contact next of kin for some other patients. What flight crew was this again?”</p><p>“457. Craft AXD, I think or something like that. I don’t know the terminology.”</p><p>It took a second before Katie recognised the number, but she did all at once, and cold dread seeped into her skin, stomach dropping so suddenly she faltered in her step.</p><p>“…where is Lance?” Katie asked, heart pounding in her chest.</p><p>The nurse and Merla shared a look. “He’s in east wing. Room 1. For close monitoring.”</p><p>One of the rooms they usually designated for critical care patients unlikely to make it through the night.</p><p>She didn’t remember consciously telling her legs to move, but Katie was already on her way before either of the two of them could say anything else. She could hear their rapid footsteps behind her, heard Merla say something about him requesting she not find out, but she ignored it, on her mission to find him.</p><p>And she did.</p><p>Katie stood at the door, processing the sight of a pale Lance looking severely injured, left arm fully wrapped in bandages that were growing bloody by the second, an IV inserted in his right, every breath raspy from a growing struggle to breathe properly. One side of his ashen face bruised, lip split, and from what she could tell, some necrotic tissue peeking out from his clothes along the left side of his body as well. His head was also wrapped up with bloody bandages. A medic was trying to clean off blood and kept suggesting a transfusion. Lance staunchly denied it, waving his hands off like some petulant child, and Katie felt her breath hitch in her chest for a moment when the medic stepped back in exasperation and most of the surface of his blue gloves were stained with dark, rusty blood.</p><p>And she could see why.</p><p>Lance had a whole piece of metal from his aircraft protruding from the left side of his abdomen. And from the soaked bloody gauze the medic was gently holding on his side, it was a pretty traumatic injury. And it also seemed just about the only thing keeping him from bleeding out right now.</p><p>There was a high pitched ringing noise in her ear, and part of her was thinking this was a bad joke.</p><p>“What…”</p><p>“He got some of the other pilots to safety by acting as a decoy,” Merla responded sombrely, answering her unfinished question. “They were attacked by some insurgents while the crew was fixing up the omega shield. Some new weapon, a radiation beam, was discharged at them. He took the most direct hit, and it destroyed his aircraft. Launched him right out into space. He’s not in enormous pain thanks to what we gave him, but he has mild paraesthesia of cranial nerve VII. The metal broke his lower ribs and punctured his diaphragm again, and his left arm has serious nerve damage from the radiation. We’ve got him on antibiotics, and we’re watching out for early signs of infection, cardiac distress, or abdominal herniation, but…”</p><p>Katie barely heard anything else as she walked into the room. She could hear her own breathing through her ears. Lance looked up, and when their eyes locked, he grimaced, only to try to replace it with a smile.</p><p>“Damn. This was so not the way I wanted to see you again. How can I be Prince Charming if I look like I got kicked by a horse?”</p><p>“Why is that still in him?” Katie ignored him, irritated as she snatched up some gloves and gestured to his injury. “Matter of fact, why isn’t he in the OR?”</p><p> “We’re doing our best to keep him as stable as we can, but he’s been refusing treatment until the other people on his team get it.” The medic looked like he was on the verge of having a meltdown.  “Obviously we disagree, but it’s his choice. Even though he’s hanging on by a thread.”</p><p>“Now that’s just not true,” Lance said, grinning loopily at her. “I’m hanging on by <em>two</em> threads.”</p><p>Katie just barely drifted her hand over the large metal shard with trembling fingers. She lifted a small corner of the bloody gauze, an imperceptible shiver trailing down her back at the look of the mottled skin. The blood slowly oozing out with each small motion.</p><p>The <em>hole</em>.</p><p>“You need to go to the OR right now.”</p><p>“Katie… we’re filled to capacity right now,” Merla explained quietly. “As soon as we can, we’ll take him, but he keeps refusing surgery until everyone else is taken care of. And we’ve also examined his condition and even if we tried to remove that now, I don’t think… well, the damage is pretty extensive, especially considering it’s in the same location as a previous wound. We need Allura if we’re to even attempt this successfully.”</p><p>“You won’t know that until we try. We have a sterile room in my lab; we can get Lance down there and try to—”</p><p>“No, don’t,” Lance interrupted staunchly, in between a shuddered release of his breath. “I’m telling you to help the others first. I know this is a bad injury; it’ll take a while to treat, so start with the others.”</p><p>“There’s no need to be all self-sacrificial, Lance,” Katie growled, snapping her gaze to him and irritated that he was pushing against being treated. “We can’t just leave a patient in pain and suffering, and if you come in here injured, we’re going to treat you.”</p><p>“I’m hopped up on fentanyl right now; not suffering. And I didn’t say <em>don’t</em> treat me. There are two other guys in critical condition. I’m saying to use your resources and medics for them first. Not like you to not think logically, Katie.”</p><p>“I am thinking logically! In case you haven’t noticed there’s metal sticking out of your body that shouldn’t be in there! We can’t leave that in there; this is an emergency!”</p><p> “Yeah, sure. Because I <em>definitely</em> haven’t noticed,” he drawled sarcastically, raising a brow. “You can’t make decisions against patient wishes.”</p><p>“We can if the patient is clearly suffering incoherent <em>delusions</em>!”</p><p>“I may be banged up, but ’m fully coherent.” Lance smirked. “Good luck trying to convince anyone otherwise. I have a way with words, you know?”</p><p>Her cheeks flushed hot in anger. Why was he acting like everything was hunky-dory when she could tell plain as day that Lance was struggling to even smile, let alone string together sentences. And his eyes were unfocused.</p><p>“Why are you being so difficult?”</p><p>“Difficult how? I’m agreeing to your treatment <em>after </em>you help everyone else,” he grit out in between a shaky inhale, a stubborn set to his jaw. “You’re not getting your way about this, Katie. And I’m not changing my mind.”</p><p>“In any case,” Merla interjected calmly, putting a hand on Katie’s shoulder when she narrowed her eyes, gearing up to argue, “let’s not rile up the patient. What can we do for you to make you comfortable in the meantime, Lance?”</p><p>“I’m fine. I did have a wish.” He puckered his lips and tapped them with his good hand. “I would ask you to <em>kiss me, Kate</em>, but you’ve got this murder vibe thing going on, so I’ll raincheck that for now. But I’ve denoted the proper location for you since you missed last time.”</p><p>“Can we stop changing the subject? You need medical assistance, so we’re going to use our resources on you whether you want us to or not. And don’t call me Kate.”</p><p>“Hey, that was a good pun. The least you could do is humour me.”</p><p>“What in the hell is humorous about this situation at all?! Lance, I’m going to kick your ass if you keep cracking jokes at a time like this!”</p><p>One of the nurses looked down, trying to hide her laugh.</p><p>“Au contraire. A time like this is the best time to slip in humour. You’d beat up a guy on his deathbed?” Lance chuckled, too forced, too jovial, and Katie’s heart practically stopped in her chest, brows lifting high on her forehead as she froze from his words. “Though I’m really relieved to hear your pull-no-punches way of speaking again. I missed it a lot. Dunno what that says about me. But it’s been a while since we saw each other. At least I get to be treated by you again one more time. Fun times, huh?”</p><p>She didn’t want to treat him like this.</p><p>Not under these circumstances.</p><p>“…Stop it. Don’t… don’t say that.”</p><p>She didn’t realise that was her voice, just barely over a whisper, until Lance’s smile slowly dropped from his lips and he sighed. Merla and the others in the room were staring at her too, pitying looks on their faces. Katie caught Merla gesturing to the door, and the others quietly left the room.</p><p>“I didn’t know they were that close,” the medic muttered before the door shut behind them.</p><p>Katie stood by his bedside in silence, throat tight and fists clenched as she stared at Lance’s broken body. His expression sobered a bit as he toggled with the edge of the blanket covering his legs.</p><p>“Now that the scary people are gone… I must confess: I’ve been lying.” Lance chuckled miserably. “My vision keeps swimming, and I feel woozy as hell. Nauseous. Urgh, so <em>not</em> silky suave right now. How am I supposed to flirt with both of your heads?”</p><p>“I know you lied. Lance, you don’t have to put on a brave front if you’re in bad shape. Why hide your condition? We’re here to help you.”</p><p>He shrugged his good shoulder. “I don’t want people to worry about me. I’m Good Time Guy. I want to be remembered that way. Not this guy in a hospital bed who looks like he got dragged across the country roads by a train.”</p><p>“…We can still fix this,” she murmured, sitting down carefully on his right side, her eyes on his oxygen level and blood pressure on the monitor. “It’s treatable. Just let us try to do something for you.”</p><p>“I know you don’t like it, but I’ve made up my mind, Katie. No point wasting your efforts on a dying man. I’m not stupid. I give myself three hours tops; maybe four.” He averted his gaze when she flinched. “I know my family was contacted. Are any of them here?”</p><p>“I didn’t see them.”</p><p>“Good. I don’t think I want my mom to see me like this…”</p><p>“Lance—”</p><p>“To be honest, when I was floating in space, the last thing I wanted to remember was a kiss from a pretty lady with a penchant for being abrasive.” He lifted his gaze and gave her a cheeky smile, but even that stupid, oddly charming comment was not enough to distract her from his pressing circumstances. “Stupid, I know, but hey, at least I can go in pea—”</p><p>“Stop talking like that,” she hissed. “We’ll figure out a way to help you. Allura’s flying back right now, and, and we’ll try— we’ll find, I don’t know, <em>something</em> to stabilise you with—”</p><p>“Heard the docs, Katie cat. Severe internal bleeding, this little sucker here broke some ribs that punctured my diaphragm. Nerve damage in my arm might never recover, so there goes Mr. Sharpshooter. I don’t know what’s going on with my moneymaker, but if it looks anything like how it felt, I don’t wanna see it. Did I miss anything?”</p><p>“Your face is fine…” she finally responded, voice soft. “No more punchable than usual.”</p><p>He chuckled under his breath though he shook his head.</p><p>She didn’t know what else to say. They were stretched thin, but even if they weren’t, as it stood, she wasn’t sure what they’d be able to do for him. And not having options welled mild panic in her heart.</p><p>Judging by the depth of the wound and the amount of damage, he was more likely to develop complications from an infection. Even if they managed to remove the foreign body, there were a number of other factors to consider, some of which having to do with alien contaminants. Who knew what other kind of extraterrestrial microbes were crawling on his skin and in his blood by this point?</p><p>“You’d probably be happy to rid yourself of me anyway. I’ve been nothing but a nuisance to you, right?”</p><p>“Yes, you’re annoying, but I wouldn’t be happy about it.” She wrung her hands together, trying to stop them from trembling. Their spirited banter was something of a highlight when he ended up under her care. “Stop talking. You’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen. And if you dare try, I already told you I’ll kick your ass.”</p><p>“Hah. Got you to admit it.” Lance gave her a small, weak smile, though he dropped it pretty quickly and inhaled shakily. “I knew you actually enjoyed my visits. I’ve grown on you. Does that elevate me to benign cyst status instead of a zit?”</p><p>“I said stop… stop talking.” Katie’s voice wavered, her eyes pricking in the back as she stared at the chunk of metal.</p><p>Lance’s amusement slowly dropped from his face. “Katie… are you crying?”</p><p>“No.” She sniffled and wiped the tear on her cheek. “Shut up.”</p><p>“I’m… I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Lance, please stop acting like you’re going to die. We’ll get this sorted out.”</p><p>Silence reigned in the room.</p><p>“<em>Okay</em>?”</p><p>“…I figured out what I want for my birthday gift.” Lance exhaled slowly and stared out the window. “It’s months late, but I uhh… I heard you singing once. To Keith.”</p><p>She swiped at her blurry eyes. “What?”</p><p>“After his surgery for the whole Galra puberty thing. You sang to him. You thought no one was around, but I was getting checked in to my room across and I heard you. It was beautiful. Could you sing to me?”</p><p>“I should have known it would be something annoying.”</p><p>“Well not much else I can ask for stuck in a hospital bed. Unless you’re open to strip tease?” They both made a face. “Sorry, that one sucked. Anyway, you promised me a gift, remember?”</p><p>“I gave you a lolli. You, again, chose not to accept my gesture of good will.” Lance chuckled, but when it turned into a cough, she set her hand on his shoulder in alarm. “Careful. Try not to move, Lance.”</p><p>She checked the gauze sopping up his blood, careful to mop up what had trickled down the side.</p><p>“I just want to hear your voice. It’s number four on my bucket list, you know?”</p><p>Katie sighed. “It’s a secret, okay? Don’t tell anyone.”</p><p>“I’ll take it with me to my grave.”</p><p>She shot him a menacing glare, and Lance quickly lifted his arm in a placating manner.</p><p>“Figure of speech! Poorly thought out one.”</p><p>“…Don’t look at me, okay?” She cleared her throat. “It’s kind of embarrassing.”</p><p>There was one Italian song she’d learned from her nonna years ago, who would sing it for her when she was sick. And while Lance wasn’t sick, per se, it’d always made her feel better when she heard it, and she hoped maybe it would help him too. Despite his practically glib responses and fentanyl-influenced flirty behaviour, she could see the subtle apprehension in his gaze, the regret behind every one of his smiles, and she knew this was just as hard for him to deal with as it was for any of them to watch.</p><p>A knot formed in her throat again, but she sang around it because he was listening with a smile, eyes closed, and if it was providing him some comfort, she wouldn’t stop. She wrapped her hand in his which folded around hers and held on tightly. His hand was trembling slightly, and it just about broke her heart.</p><p>“Your voice is nice,” Lance whispered when she’d finished the song, his own voice sounding hoarse.</p><p>To her alarm, Lance’s breathing was a bit more laboured than before, the soft wheeze accompanying each slightly rasping inhale more noticeable. For a moment, dread settled in the pit of her stomach again.</p><p>“You’re not allowed to sleep, Lance.”</p><p>“Mmm… Need an incentive.”</p><p>“How about a threat?” She squeezed his hand just a bit tighter, swallowing hard when the frog in her throat grew. “I mean it; I’ll kick your ass. Now open your eyes or I’ll make good on it.”</p><p>“That works too… I guess. Damn. I just want to take a little nap.”</p><p>“I said <em>no</em>.”</p><p>Katie was keeping an eye on his monitor, and undeniably, his blood pressure was gradually dropping. Pulse was already weaker. His eyes were hazy when he opened them, a wistful gleam in them as he watched her. She wasn’t easily rattled, but Lance’s condition was worsening and it worried her.</p><p>“Hey… at least I’m not in pain,” he said softly, slipping his hand out of her death grip to reach up and cup her cheek. She didn’t realise more tears were trailing down her face until he traced them with the pad of his thumb. “It’s okay. I feel like things were really starting to get good between us… but we had a good run, right? Though I do wish I’d gotten that date. Hell, I’d have settled for your… phone number, but you know me. Ambitious too.”</p><p>“Stubborn. You’re <em>stubborn</em> and I need you to be stubborn right now…” Her voice broke when her heart wrenched tightly in her chest. “C’mon, Lance. Where’s that annoying persistence of yours?”</p><p>“Doin’ my best here, Katie… but you know… kinda,” he released a broken exhale, “kinda hard to breathe… diaphragm and all.”</p><p>She could see the apology in his eyes and leaned forward, closing her eyes and resting her forehead on his shoulder. He stroked the back of her head, fingers loosely tangling with the strands as he held her close. She tried hard to stifle her tears, but she couldn’t stop the tiny sob that slipped out with her shuddering exhale. He had an impact on her life in a way very few people ever did.</p><p>Lance meant something to her. She didn’t know <em>what</em>, but he did.</p><p>She hated this.</p><p>She hated it so much.</p><p>“’m beating myself up for not getting to know you years ago… could have had more time.”</p><p>“I’ll never forgive you if you die.”</p><p>“Well, can’t go before I get that apology from you,” he chuckled weakly into her hair.</p><p>“You’ll be waiting forever.”</p><p>He didn’t respond, and she knew why, and her vision blurred with tears again.</p><p>There was a commotion outside in the courtyard, the roaring of a spaceship’s engine so loud it drowned out the beeps of the monitor and shook the entire building. Katie tried to sit up, hope welling in her chest that Allura had arrived, but Lance’s grip tightened.</p><p>“Can we stay like this… for a bit? Having a pretty nice dream right now.”</p><p>She relaxed in his hold, squeezing his shoulder and quietly waiting while monitoring Lance’s choppy breathing.</p><p>Katie wasn’t sure how long they remained there in each other’s silent embrace, but the door was pushed open and footsteps clattered in. Never had Katie been so happy to see Allura. She sat up, sniffling as she drew herself out of his arm’s reach, giving him a reassuring smile as she stepped back from the medics and a couple surgeons who rushed to the side of Lance’s bed.</p><p>“Alright, no arguing, Lance! We’re taking care of this. <em>Now</em>,” Allura said, her marks glowing as she frowned down at him. She gave Katie a soft nod. “I can take it from here, Pidge.”</p><p>Katie nodded stiffly, forcing her feet to leave the room to the team working on Lance. She couldn’t help but turn before the door closed, a momentary helplessness filling her as she watched them start to put Lance to sleep and cut away the clothes tangled around the metal. Their eyes made contact once more just before the door shut.</p><p>And then it was just her standing in front of his door, her mind having gone completely blank and unsure of what to do. She was usually the one in the room managing the procedure. Being on the other side waiting with so much uncertainty was horrible.</p><p>A pair of hands turned her around and guided her down the hall past the waiting room where several people were seated or standing, the same concern on all their faces as they waited for news on their loved ones. Katie spotted Veronica McClain hunched over on one of the couches, dressed in her pyjamas, bags under her bloodshot eyes. She was speaking Spanish to someone on the phone, clearly upset and anxiously wringing her hands. A female Galran was sitting on the arm of the couch beside her, hand placed comfortingly on her back as she rubbed it. Hunk was also pacing the room, rubbing his face with his hands and looking terrified.</p><p>“Katie, he’ll be alright,” Merla muttered in her ear. “He’ll be okay. He’s resilient like that. If you want the rest of the night off away from the med bay, I understand too. I think we’ve got it pretty under control here.”</p><p>There was nothing worse than that helpless feeling of not being able to do anything for him. She trusted Allura to get the job done, but it was impossible to sit still and wait patiently when he was starting from such a bad place to begin with.</p><p>Katie anxiously licked her lips, but exhaled with a nod, shaking off the last of her current thoughts.</p><p>“I’m going back to the lab. Have samples to analyse, and I need to figure out what that alien thing did.”</p><p>“I’ll page you if we need anything.”</p><p>Once Katie had gotten to her lab, she tore into her work with gusto, resolving not to let her current thoughts distract her from the work she needed to get done. It was hard to tell what time it was in the windowless, cold lab and she wasn’t one to keep clocks on her, but Katie worked nonstop, samples on each of her microscopes as she slid between them and observed the composition of this toxin from the infecting alien. She tested the toxin with various biochemical tests to uncover its properties, centrifuged tissue and blood samples, ran PCR to understand the genetic components, working nonstop well into the morning with her team to document her findings. Her hands were shaking from fatigue by the time she’d finally developed some sort of understanding of that alien species and how to design an antidote/decontaminant.</p><p>As she trudged to her office to parch her dry throat, utterly exhausted, she saw her pager blinking and picked it up, fear gripping her for just a moment.</p><p>
  <em>LANCE STABLE</em>
</p><p>The relief that spread through Katie was palpable, and she slumped in her office chair, running a hand through her hair with a smile, the apprehension coiling in her gut finally loosening for the first time since the crew had returned.</p><p>He was alive and well. That was all that mattered.</p><p>Technically, her shift was well over, but the good news inspired her to push past her fatigue and conclude her tests. She was used to sacrificing sleep, anyway.</p><p>Once they’d developed a formula to administer to Kinkade, it was well into the morning, and she finally decided to get sleep before she collapsed. She headed back to the ICU to check on things going on there and get any further updates for her work this coming night.</p><p>Katie ended up running into Allura in a dim corridor, who looked utterly drained and whose hair was utterly dishevelled.</p><p>“Pidge,” she stated in a sleep-deprived grumble, blinking in surprise. “Have you been here working all night?”</p><p>“I could ask the same of you.”</p><p>“I thought I’d help out with stabilising the other patients in critical care. It was a lot, and I still have two more to go, but since I’m here, I might as well do what I can. I couldn’t believe that had happened to them. So many injured over barbaric behaviour in what was supposed to be a safe quadrant. With the news of this attack, I must hold a council meeting for the Space Alliance for vigilance of possible uprisings. We cannot let this happen again.”</p><p>Katie nodded, entirely grateful yet again that she cared about them enough to go to those lengths. “Allura, thank you for… uh, for— for saving his life.”</p><p>Allura’s gaze turned consoling and unexpectedly, she reached out and pulled her into a hug. Katie kind of hated being touched and tended to forcibly remove herself from people’s grasps, but her strength seeped out of her from the gentle gesture. The depth of her exhaustion with this whole night and her anxiousness over Lance imploded at once, and Katie let out a broken exhale as her throat tightened and tears filled her eyes again. She shuddered in Allura’s arms, her warmth and silent comfort making Katie break down for a moment.</p><p>“He’s alive, Pidge,” she reminded her soothingly. “I repaired the most pressing damage so he’s no longer on death’s door.”</p><p>“I-I know, I just…”</p><p>She didn’t expect to be so rattled by his injury. It’d never even crossed her mind that something like this could happen. And that was the root of her fear, she supposed. All this time, she’d been letting things play out at their own pace, but all of a sudden, she was confronted quite rudely with the dangers of this job. Not even just for Lance, but all of her pilot friends and family who travelled to deep space. It reminded her of sleepless nights as a teen when she desperately sought any radio communications from the Kerberos mission, if only to alleviate the constant fear of the unknown.</p><p>Allura pulled back and gave her a knowing smile.</p><p>“You can go check on him, you know? His family visited earlier today which tired him out. He might be sleeping, but I’m sure he’d love to see your face. He was saying your name in his sleep.”</p><p>Allura winked at her, and Katie’s cheeks burned red. “I’ll go run a quick post-op physical then.”</p><p>Katie headed off to his room, intending to make it a quick visit and hoping he would be asleep, because she wasn’t sure what to say to him after crying in his shoulder like that. When she pushed open the door, Lance was wide awake though, sitting against the headboard of the hospital and reading a book.</p><p>He looked up at the noise, and Katie felt her face flush with heat when his lips turned up into a soft, affectionate smile.</p><p>“She shows at last.”</p><p>“I thought you’d be asleep.”</p><p>“I slept for hours. I’m not tired anymore.” Lance shut his book and set it aside. “Was waiting for you. As promised, I’m alive.”</p><p>She felt a little bashful under his gaze as she stepped fully in the room and closed the door behind her. He looked a lot better than he had earlier that night. Though the bruising along his face remained and his left arm was still wrapped up, his abdomen was cleaned up and properly wrapped up with, thankfully, nothing protruding from it. His broken ribs and the injury to his head seemed to have also been taken care of. There was nothing more relieving than seeing his injury patched up, blood gone, and most of all, Lance looking alert.</p><p>Katie moved to his left side. “I see that. How do you feel?”</p><p>“Well… I have a catheter in my coconut tree. You tell me…”</p><p>She couldn’t stop her smile and laughed a bit as she leaned on the bed to take a closer look at the fibrotic tissue on his neck, shoulder, and chest due to the radiation exposure. It extended down his arm, and when she tapped her hammer on his bicep and the reflex was absent, she figured the damage there hadn’t been addressed in full yet.</p><p>“Okay. Good. You’re smiling,” Lance said. “Permission to hardcore flirt now, you know, since I almost died and all?”</p><p>“Permission denied,” she intoned, smile dropping right off her face.</p><p>Lance leaned forward to give her more access as she gently palpated the parts of the scalp where he’d sustained the injury. “Merla recommended I discuss with you about injecting your prototype for the nano film into my nerves for gene therapy to try to stimulate my nerves to regenerate or some science speak that sounds like Russian to me. They think it’ll help Allura complete the second set of my treatment since she can more easily bring results from living tissue.”</p><p>“It’s still in the last trial stages. You sure you want to try it? You’d be the first.”</p><p>“Someone has to be the guinea pig, right?” He concentrated hard on his left hand as he tried to close and open his hand, though his fingers mostly twitched, as if unable to complete the process. “I don’t think the nerve damage will ever fully recover, and while I can shoot with my right reasonably well, this is better than nothing, and I’ll take my chances with a Katie Holt creation.”</p><p>She nodded, letting him go and helping him recline more comfortably on his pillow before moving to his monitor on the other side of the bed. “We can get that process started then. We’ll have to run some tests once you’ve convalesced. Should take a few days thanks to Allura’s treatment.”</p><p>“Great. And, uh, I wanna thank you for staying by my side. It helped a lot with getting me through this.”</p><p>“Allura did most of the work healing you up.” Katie occupied herself with making sure his vital signs were stable, the reminder of their embrace making the back of her neck flush. “Must’ve been happy. You got treated by your crush.”</p><p>“Eh. Not really into married women to be honest. What about you?” he asked after a short pause, messing with the blanket on his lap.  “…Allura mentioned you’re going away on your first space trip with Keith for a couple months. Must make you happy. Going to space with your crush.”</p><p>His displeasure was kind of obvious even though he was trying to hide it, especially because the tips of his ears were kind of red.</p><p>Katie turned around and faced Lance with an exasperated sigh.</p><p>“Of course I’m happy. He’s my best friend, and I’ve liked him for a pretty long time. There are old feelings that probably won’t fully go away anytime soon, but this is strictly an educational trip for Shiro’s surgery. No vacationing. I’m saving that sightseeing trip for someone else… especially since I have a heist to plan with that person. Though I’ll likely eject my pilot and leave him stranded in space for being annoying as hell.”</p><p>Lance stopped fidgeting with his blanket, still staring at his lap, but he visibly perked up and she caught the grin on his lips.</p><p>“…The pilot would definitely enjoy that trip though. Stuck in an aircraft with you for a long trip?” Lance cleared his throat as he straightened up and put on his best flirt face, complete with waggling brows. “Sounds like a perfect opportunity to <em>bond</em>.”</p><p>“And what, pray tell, do you mean by <em>bond</em>? I’m warning you now, depending on your answer, if you didn’t see those bright lights at the end of the tunnel while you were unconscious, you sure as hell are about to see them now.”</p><p>“Get your mind out of the gutter,” he teased, moving his right arm so she could check the IV site. “I’m talking teenage slumber party style, not low budget hentai. Never Have I Ever, Truth or Dare, Spin The Bottle. The works.”</p><p>“How the hell would spin the bottle work between two people? We’d keep landing on each other.”</p><p>“Precisely.”</p><p>“Dork.</p><p>“Are you excited though? About your trip to Daibazaal?” he asked, shifting in the bed with a small yawn.</p><p>“Yeah. I was looking forward to telling you all about it the next time we met. Didn’t think it’d be like this though.”</p><p>“See how handy phones can be? This is a prime example of why you should give me your number too. And I think after the ordeal I went through, my application should be moved to the top of the pile for consideration for earning it.”</p><p>“You seem too eager. I don’t trust you not to send dumb stuff.”</p><p>“I think you’d find it pretty funny to be honest. I feel like I’ve cracked the case on your sense of humour.”</p><p>His last few words were interrupted by some harsh coughs. He sucked in air sharply through his teeth and winced as he held his side for a second, and Katie frowned in alarm, instantly setting a worried hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“Hey, easy. Allura stopped the worst of it, but you’re still in the final stages of healing.”</p><p>“I’m fine, promise. Not on the verge of death anymore.” Lance’s smile was more of a grimace than anything, and she knew he was downplaying how he was feeling. “And I don’t need more pain killers. Hate the way that stuff makes me feel.”</p><p>“You don’t have to hide how you’re feeling from me,” she reassured him gently. “Tell me what I can do for you to make the recovery easier.”</p><p>“Nothing. Honestly, you’ve done more than enough.” Lance cleared his throat, rubbing at it a few times to get the last vestiges of the cough out of his system. “And I’m not just saying that. As a matter of fact, I <em>did</em> run the hell away from that light at the end of the tunnel and never looked back because I heard your voice in the light threatening to beat my ass if I took one step into it.”</p><p>It was obviously a joke, and he was snickering, but for a moment, her heart lurched in her chest. It was weird. She was happy he was back to being himself, but she couldn’t help but think about how south this whole ordeal could have gone.</p><p>“…I’m glad you’re alive, Lance,” Katie remarked quietly.</p><p>Lance’s brows raised minutely, surprised by her calm honesty. Then his expression sobered to something more serious, remnants of Lance’s desperate fear appearing behind his gaze.</p><p>“You and me both. Especially since it means I can see you again. That’s all I kept wishing for when they put me under.”</p><p>They held each other’s gaze for several long seconds. Her heart thumped hard in her chest from his earnest gaze, and she licked her lips, turning her gaze to the window when the whole room started to feel warm.</p><p>She tugged at the collar of her blouse as she pulled a chair up and plopped down in it. Honestly, she’d already done what she’d come here to do, and she was off her shift, but she didn’t want to leave Lance just yet.</p><p>“Did you see anything weird when you were unconscious? You know, like any bizarre Wonderland type stuff?”</p><p>“No, but… I realised I still had three things left on my bucket list. For one, I haven’t met a space mermaid yet.”</p><p>“Space mermaid,” Katie drawled with a scoff as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Wow, you’re an idiot if you think those are real.”</p><p>“Hey! Stranger things have been seen in space. I wouldn’t be surprised if mermaids exist.”</p><p>“I’d bet good money they don’t.”</p><p>“Aren’t you a science person? Considering it an impossibility is impossible in and of itself since we don’t know the depths of what space entails,” he pointed out, snarky smile on his lips.</p><p>She gave him a blank look. “Show me a good theory or proof, and I’ll rectify my stance. Until then, my stance is they don’t exist.”</p><p>“Let’s put real stakes on it then.” Lance’s little smirk grew. “If I’m right, you go on a romantic, fancy date with me. I’m talking dressing up, expensive dinner with wine and candles, holding hands on a moonlit walk by the bay, the whole shebang. And end the night with—”</p><p>“An apology, right?” she intoned.</p><p>He scratched at the itchy, damaged skin on his chest. “I was going to say a kiss—on the <em>mouth</em>—but now I’m debating because that’s a pretty sweet deal too.”</p><p>“You can’t have it both ways. If you want that date, the apology is out of the question. Not that I would ever apologise to you.”</p><p>He quietly rubbed at the fuzz of hair above his upper lip, eyes narrowed, though his hand was hiding an obvious smile.</p><p>“Meaning… you would go on a date with me?”</p><p>“That’s not what I said.”</p><p>His grin widened. “Yeah it is. You just said if I wanted—”</p><p>“I was making a point that you’re asking for two conditions for a bet and that’s not how it works. Anyway, is that really what you want to wager? Not that you’d win, but that would be a date out of obligation.”</p><p>“You’ve got a point. Okay, new wager. I’m right, you kiss me. I’m wrong, I kiss you. Sounds good?”</p><p>“<em>Or</em> I can inject you with a neurotoxin for being annoying as shit. <em>Sounds good?</em>”</p><p>“Sounds like <em>Katie</em>.” Lance laughed and leaned back against the cushions with a relaxed sigh. “I know we’ve both been busy, but I can’t tell you enough how glad I am I got to see you once more before surgery. I mean… if I hadn’t made it—”</p><p>“Stop it.” Katie cut him off, running a hand through her hair with a roll of her eyes. “You’re alive, so let’s not revisit that, okay? It was unpleasant.”</p><p>“I know. I’m mad at myself for making you cry.”</p><p>“It wasn’t— Anyone would get emotional if a patient—an <em>acquaintance</em>—they care for was on the verge of death.”</p><p>“Acquaintance? <em>Just</em> care for?” He seemed determined to rile her up, his eyes dancing in that way when he was on a mission to annoy her. “I have three full vials of your saved tears, ya know?”</p><p>“What are the <em>other</em> bucket list things?” she asked, aggressively changing the subject and glowering at him. “Just as ridiculous as that mermaid thing, no doubt.”</p><p>“The mermaid thing is amazing, ‘scuse you. But I also want to visit an alternate reality.”</p><p>“Reasonable.”</p><p>“An alternate reality is plausible, but not mermaids? What the hell.”</p><p>“Alternate dimensions exist through travel in the quantum realms. Not farfetched.”</p><p>“You like arguing for the sake of arguing, I bet.”</p><p>She shrugged. “No more than the next person.”</p><p>“See?” he said. “Point proven.”</p><p>“It’s not my fault your bucket list is just as dorky as you are.” She crossed a leg over the other. “Is that your most important goal? Visiting an alternate reality?”</p><p>“Not even close.”</p><p>“Let me guess: you want to travel to Narnia and ride on Aslan’s back,” Katie snarked.</p><p>“As fun as riding on a giant lion’s back would be,” Lance mused, “number 1 on my bucket list has always been to find my soulmate.”</p><p>“The idea of a soulmate is farfetched and unrealistic.”</p><p>“Spoken like a true cynic.”</p><p>“I’m normal levels of cynicism. <em>You’re</em> overly romantic, though I’m not surprised. That explains your dorkiness.”</p><p>“Can’t help that. I was raised on fairy tales and happy endings. And I want mine with the woman of my dreams before I miss my chance.” She eyed the bandages around his torso for a sign of possible suture breakage when he grunted as he shifted his position again. “In my line of work, anything can happen if I wait too long. Almost found that out the hard way…”</p><p>Katie had been so focused on making sure there wasn’t a possible issue, that she didn’t realise at first that Lance had stopped talking. When she brought her eyes back to his face, she was surprised to find him watching her, an indecipherable look in his eyes. Something about the way he was looking at her made her breath catch.</p><p>“How… how would you even figure out she’s your soulmate?” she asked, occupying herself with brushing off imaginary dust on her lap as her cheeks burned. “It’s an arbitrary marker bred from nothing but attraction. Hence, why you thought Allura was yours.”</p><p>“I got it right this time. Call it a hunch,” Lance replied in a measured tone. “…A short, snarky, will-make-a-grown-man-cry-with-her-evil-eye hunch.”</p><p>And she froze. She could feel his eyes on her face, could see his smile growing out of the corner of her eyes. And she knew her face was quickly approaching that damned annoying permanent tomato red when she didn’t know how to navigate a situation that got her flustered.</p><p>“<em>Intuition</em> doesn’t breed much confidence. It’s unreliable too since it’s pretty subjective,” she responded quietly, looking around the room before she settled on his Adam’s apple.</p><p>“I told you. There are people you meet that you know will mean something to you. Don’t underestimate the power of human chemistry. It’s rooted in science. Watched a whole documentary about it.”</p><p>“…I mean, I guess there are neurologic determinants in the compatibility and connection humans share with each other,” she grumbled begrudgingly.</p><p>“Science speak isn’t my forte, Katie,” Lance remarked idly, amusement dancing in his gaze. “What was that? I’m <em>right</em>?”</p><p>“I am agreeing with you.” She huffed. “But only to an extent. There is a scientific basis for your overly romantic drivel, but conscious action is more influential than anything in the connections we make. Maybe there are people we’ll form stronger connections with naturally, but we always make the choice of who we want to be close to. I would never want to be with someone just because we had a little chemistry when we met.”</p><p>“So… when you willingly spend time with someone who isn’t a friend, even when you don’t have to, is that your way of wanting to deepen the connection?”</p><p>She frowned, confused by his line of questioning. “Well, yes, generally.”</p><p>“And let’s say it was someone who you somewhat recently met. That means you’re interested, right?”</p><p>“Likely, yeah…”</p><p>“Good to know.” Lance nodded slowly. “So can I read more into the fact that you’re spending time with me well after your night shift has ended?”</p><p>It surprised her that he even knew that in the first place. Katie stood up, moving to his IV line to check the levels. Her heartbeat was a little hyperactive as his eyes tracked her movement and he waited patiently for her response, looking like he was having the time of his life.</p><p>“…What’s your plan if you find her then?” she asked, ignoring his prior question. “Your soulmate.”</p><p>“I wait.”</p><p>“For…?”</p><p>“For her to finally agree to go on a date with me.”</p><p>“…Dates are overrated,” she muttered and Lance chuckled. She slowly blew out air from her mouth, and then turned around, facing him as she made up her mind. “You were wrong, you know?”</p><p>“About what?”</p><p>“My name. My full name,” she continued, picking at her thumb nail. “It’s Katia. Named after some great-great-aunt who wrestled bears in Italy or something. Aside from my family, the only people who know are Keith and Nadia. And now you, I guess.”</p><p>“Katia, huh? I’m honoured you added me to your list.” He grunted as he tried to sit up more, and Katie shifted over to help him fluff and rearrange his pillows to support him. “But why tell me now? Kinda random.”</p><p>“Weren’t you the one who said you wanted us to get to know each other properly?” she asked quietly, grasping the fabric of her lab coat nervously when his brows lifted. “Keith didn’t tell you when you were researching me because I once threatened to carve out some organs if he ever told anyone. So I’m telling you myself.”</p><p>“…We <em>could</em> also continue this conversation over a nice candlelit dinner. Although, if you think about it, in a way, each time we met was kind of like a date.”</p><p>She made a face. “By that line of reasoning, our first was really bad.”</p><p>“Right.” He aimed a teasing smile at her. “So you should give me a proper redo to sweep you off your feet.”</p><p>“Lance.”</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>Setting her knee on the edge of the bed, she cradled his face, careful not to press too hard on his bruised cheek, leaned down, and pressed her lips to his. His lips were chapped, she could feel the scab from his split lip, and her nose accidentally bumped his from her angle and their teeth knocked a bit, but she tilted her head and kissed him properly. Lance went very still, but after a moment, he seemed to find himself and responded fervently, his arm reaching up to hold her waist. Warmth flooded her body from the ardent need she could feel behind both of them as their mouths moved together gently. Almost like they were both reaffirming that Lance was alive. Katie smiled as she pulled away, forehead resting against his for a moment before she sat back on his bed.</p><p>“Good God woman, forget the neurotoxin…” Lance’s heart rate was a little elevated on the monitor. “This’ll kill me much sooner. Warn a guy next time.”</p><p>She stroked his face with her thumbs. “Thank you for not dying on me.”</p><p>“Who would with the threat of an ass-kicking by a scary troll doll looming over their head?” he snarked.</p><p>“And get better soon so we don’t keep being bugged by you anymore.”</p><p>“I think… uhh… an apology might help the healing process too, you know?” He glanced at her from under his eyelashes, pretending to be innocent. “I have it on good authority that it adds some years to the life.”</p><p>“Make a full recovery and then we’ll talk.”</p><p>“So in other words, you’ve made it impossible now…”</p><p>Katie chuckled softly, letting go of his face to take and clasp his hand in hers. They grinned at each other, and she was sure she was sporting the same goofy look on her face that he had on his. It made her happy that she seemed to draw genuine, bright smiles from Lance.</p><p>But she didn’t want him to go through the remainder of his treatments or procedures without her. Maybe she was still reeling from almost losing him, and clearly attached, but she wanted to be there as his support.</p><p>“Lance. I’m going to put off going to space for a bit. Just so I can stick around and help you while you’re getting better.”</p><p>“Absolutely not. You have to go, Katie. This is your dream.” His brows furrowed, though his tone softened. “I promise I won’t die while you’re away.”</p><p>“I didn’t think you would.” She raised a brow with a snort. “I’m not cancelling the trip, you dork. I meant I’m pushing my departure date a little further so I can at least take care of you especially after the nano injection and Allura’s second treatment. Shiro’s surgery is in a month. Three extra weeks aren't related to the surgical itinerary so I don’t mind removing them.”</p><p>“I mean, I can’t deny I would absolutely love that, but you really don’t have to if you don’t want to.”</p><p>She squeezed his hand.  “I never do anything I don’t want to, Lance. And mind you, I’m gonna be gone for a couple months so you won’t see me for a while.”</p><p>“Ah, right. So you want to stock up on some good ol’ juicy Lance essence.”</p><p>“Something like that…” Katie joked, giving him a soft smile.</p><p>Lance searched her eyes, the tips of his ears flushing the slightest bit and a slightly pensive look growing on his face. The intensity of his gaze on her made her own face start to warm.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Umm, I…” he swallowed audibly, “really want to kiss you again. Not as a thank you or an apology or anything. But I honestly can’t think of anything clever or cute to say, and I’m scared you’ll clobber me if I just go for it. Uhh… can I kiss you, Katie?”</p><p>He really was too cute and charming for his own good.</p><p>“Okay…”</p><p>She leaned forward and met him halfway as he reached up to cup her neck and closed the gap between their lips in a slow, perfect kiss that set her heart alight in her chest.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>lmao i <i>vastly</i> miscalculated how long this chapter would end up being</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>V</p><p> </p><p>“Three recent graduates were given an intratympanic injection of 0.4 cc of dexamethasone for sudden hearing loss after their translators were implanted. I suspect the inflammation is due to an allergic reaction that may be related to the translator’s metal,” Katie dictated through her recording device as she hurried down the hall back to her lab doors. She was blasted by the freezing cold air when she walked in and barely suppressed a shiver. “Repeat audiograms will be conducted at the follow up visit. If no improvement in hearing is noted in the next week, will proceed with a second injection. If no improvement noted afterwards, will conclude procedure with third and final injection. Should there be no improvement following that, we will consider removing the translator entirely to assess the composition of the metal for impurities.”</p><p>Which was a crapshoot considering she hadn’t been on Earth when those three implants had been created.</p><p>The chances of her figuring out the problem <em>after</em> it had already been inserted into their bodies and corrupted was slim to none and she was kind of convinced slim had walked out the door. Honestly, she was tempted to just remove their implants entirely and get the pilots fitted for new ones, but it was a time consuming process that wouldn’t get approval without proof that more conservative management options had been pursued first.</p><p>Katie pulled her headphones out of her ear once she was in her office and tossed them and the recorder by her laptop on her desk. A boisterous yawn left her lips as she tiredly rubbed at her eyes under her glasses and headed back out to her cell culture hood. Her mother had left her a turkey sandwich and some tea about an hour ago before she’d left to retrieve some samples to run tests, but Katie had no desire to eat anything. There was very little time in the day left and she had to choose between getting work done or eating.</p><p>She just hadn’t expected work to end up piled up like this after returning to Earth. The New Year came and Katie ended up crossing over stuck in her lab and finishing up about fifty bajillion things with no end in sight. January passed in a full blur and by mid-February, she’d only just finished necessary upgrades to the cloaking software since all aircrafts had to be upgraded in the new year.</p><p>But now, she and her mother had officially started running initial trials on the effectiveness of the extractions from the Daibazaal lilies. She’d been so busy so long, she wasn’t able to help in the med bay at all, but this came first. She and her mother were busting their asses and trials with cell cultures always took a while to complete.</p><p>And as if that wasn’t bad enough, she was still focusing on post-op procedures for Shiro.</p><p>He could use his new gunmetal arm, but he hadn’t tolerated the invasive procedure well, and the trauma had made the hair of his forelock grow in white. Though Honerva had even fashioned Shiro a glowing spear for him to use in combat, Katie wondered if this was all worth it considering the recovery was slow and he had mild PTSD. He was suffering from seizures due to his motor cortex being affected. Honerva was sending daily videos so Katie could understand how to tune up Shiro’s arm, but she already felt behind.</p><p>She wished she could have stayed too, but there was too much going on on Earth for her to even consider taking even longer off. And she was pretty anal about her inventions. She didn’t trust anyone else to handle them the way she did. At least Allura was sticking around with Shiro, and it seemed the two had become very close friends so he had someone to keep him company. Once he was stable, Allura would transport him back to earth. And then it was up to Katie’s lab to make sure he was always in top shape. She had hella homework every day, and she was behind on everything.</p><p>Either way, this shitty Friday was shaping up to be another shitty weekend real quick if she didn’t get her shit sorted out fast.</p><p>At least Lance’s rehab process was going well. Injecting the nano-film had been seamless and the tiny robots had acclimated to his cellular environment well. There was no rejection, and his recovery had been steady since then, aided in no small part to the amount of work he was putting in to get back the dexterity of his arm.</p><p>During her trip, he’d sent daily photos of his healing tissue so she could include it in her data. Sometimes he sent her photos from rehab, including a photo of him barely dressed as he stepped into an ice bath after a workout.</p><p>Which he claimed was an accident.</p><p>(And which she’d ended up staring at far longer than she really needed to—for research purposes, of course).</p><p>In turn, she sent him pictures of the Daibazaal lab and the stars and space as she was travelling back.</p><p>He’d been cleared for return to service about a month and a half into her trip, and unfortunately, she hadn’t had the opportunity to keep track of his progress in person since then, but the frequent updates he was sending her were helpful in assessing his current condition.</p><p>She loved her trip, but she’d spent the entire time imagining Lance acting like some dorky tourist about everything she’d seen. And then missing him.</p><p>Neither of them had brought up their kiss since that time, and she had to admit it kind of bugged her. But she had a feeling with all the craziness in both of their lives whatever this was between them had been temporarily put on the backburner.</p><p>Still…</p><p>She often found herself thinking about him.</p><p>And their kiss.</p><p>(And wishing she could be in his arms again).</p><p>“Katie. Got time for a patient?” Merla asked from somewhere behind her.</p><p>“No,” she grumbled, carefully pipetting phalloidin in her microcentrifuge tube. “Too busy.”</p><p>“Okay… let me rephrase that: do you have time for <em>Loverboy</em> <em>Lance</em>?”</p><p>Katie flinched, squeezed the head of the pipette too hard, and some of the mounting media spilled on her gloved fingers instead. She felt her cheeks warm, and she spun and glared at Merla over her shoulder.</p><p>“His words, not mine.” She put her hands up innocently though she looked thoroughly amused. “He really wanted to see you. Said it was important and I quote ‘if I have to wait ten years for Katie cat, I will’. That man is really into you, Katie. Completely smitten.”</p><p>She knew. It kind of disconcerted her that it was a mutual sentiment.</p><p>“What exactly is his concern today? Is it an issue my department handles?”</p><p>She shook her head. “Said he landed on his left ankle and dislocated it or sprained it. He was rambling so I didn’t quite catch it in full.”</p><p>“And he wanted to see me for <em>that</em>?”</p><p>“Probably among other things. He’s <em>your</em> lover. Ask him. I’m just a messenger.”</p><p>“I’ll go see him, I guess.” Katie disregarded the rest of the statement with a sigh as she stood and pulled her hands out of the gloves set in the hood.</p><p>“Dropping everything to see him?” Merla said with a teasing smile. “Funny. I recall you rejecting requests to come up for other patients.”</p><p>“He has my nanotech in his body. It’s a personal investment.”</p><p>“Right. For the <em>nanotech</em>.”</p><p>Katie set her supplies aside and washed her hands, giving Merla the stink eye until the older Altean chuckled and left the lab. Lance was a special case. She did have a personal investment in his wellbeing, even if it wasn’t specifically because of the nanotech. Plus, she knew the kind of person he was. If he didn’t get what he wanted, Katie would be badgered for life.</p><p>She headed upstairs to find Lance, stopping by the nurse’s station to check his chart real quick. Sure enough, he’d listed a dislocated and sprained left ankle as his chief complaint, and nothing else. Katie sighed in annoyance as she continued on her way, and when she entered the room, she found Lance sitting there in a suit, tie loose, and rubbing at his left arm. Her heart gave a happy little lurch in her chest when their eyes met, and she had to fold her lips in to keep from acting like a total goober.</p><p>He looked healthy to her at first glance though, his smile bright, and that was relieving.</p><p>“Lance,” she said without expression. “Better have a good reason for this.”</p><p>“Nice to see you too, Katie. Especially after so long.”</p><p>She had seen him actually. When he’d received a Medal of Honour about two weeks ago. His family had been taking up most of his attention so she hadn’t had a chance to offer her congrats to him at the time. And then she’d had an emergency at the lab and had to leave the ceremony early. Later, her father had told her Lance was currently being considered for accelerated promotion to captain. She couldn’t tell Lance about it, but she believed it well-deserved considering the time and effort and love he put into his job. </p><p>(Now why her father thought it necessary to tell her this about Lance unprompted was a whole other matter…)</p><p>“We’ve been in contact throughout the whole time,” she pointed out.</p><p>“Huge difference between emailing you and seeing your actual face, Katie. And I wanted to see your face. Since I can’t get goofy selfies from you, this is the next best thing.”</p><p>“Not a good enough reason.” But she didn’t blame him honestly. Not seeing him made her restless too. But at least she’d known he was on earth and out of danger for the most part due to his temporary medical leave. Although she was sure she was going to get antsy now that he was cleared for return to active duty. “What the hell did you do to dislocate your ankle?”</p><p>“Don’t you want to know why I’m in the fancy duds?” he gestured to himself with a smirk. “And looking suave and sexy as hell might I add.”</p><p>Yes, he looked suave.</p><p>“Is it relevant to your injury?” Katie responded, not giving an inch.</p><p>“Well, not fully?”</p><p>“How did you dislocate your ankle?” she questioned again.</p><p>“Your dedication to your job is impressive…” Lance muttered with a sigh. “Fine. Saved a cat from a tree.”</p><p>She scowled at him. There was no way that was true. While Lance had a flair for the dramatics of course, something about this screamed disingenuous to her.</p><p>“You’re disturbing my work for this shit? Anybody could have looked at it for you. Why ask for me?”</p><p>“Because I missed you. I figured while I was at it, I could get another quick check on my arm. Every time I stopped by the med bay, you weren’t on call that day. I told you. I got a little restless since it’s been months since I saw you. I went a long time without being called a dork. That’s just not right.”</p><p>Katie sighed and her furrowed brows loosened, lips twitching with the urge to smile. She understood his frustration. She felt it too, but this was not the way to go about it.</p><p>“So you decided to waste my already limited time, Lance? Bad move. I would’ve thought you’d understand by now that things won’t bode well for you if I’m in a sour mood.”</p><p>“Yes, but I’m sure you still came of your own accord, even with my request.” He smirked, undeterred and eyes dancing in mirth. “I saw your eyes light up when you walked in the room. Can’t hide that, Katie. Eyes are the window to the <em>soul</em>.”</p><p>“Uh huh… Still experiencing numbness and tingling?” she asked, ignoring him as she pulled her stool in front of him and plopped down to carefully assess his arm. He nodded. She lifted it carefully, pressed against the bicep and observed the slowly healing skin. “Nerve is still in stages of repair. Trace reflex present.” She closed her fingers lightly over his to prompt him to form a fist, and once he did, she slowly and gently lifted his arm until he winced. “Abduction ceases at the level of the ear. And you can form a tight fist now. Have you been doing your daily exercises?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Hn. Congratulations. You’re in the same condition our PM&amp;R department reported you as… <em>three days ago</em>.”</p><p>Katie stood and moved the stool back in its original position.</p><p>“Okay, Oscar the Grouch.” He chuckled. “I get it. You don’t like your work disturbed. Thought maybe you would appreciate the break to look at some fine eye candy though.”</p><p>“Did you come here just to flirt? Because I promise you Lance if this is your goal when I have this much shit to complete, the consequences are going to be painful. Even if I do enjoy your visits.”</p><p>“I’m a flirt; it’s what I do. Especially so since my doctor is quite cute.” She turned slowly, and at her absolutely murderous glare, he chuckled nervously and quickly backtracked, glancing away with an anxious look on his face. “My ankle still hurts. Thought I’d get it checked out since I heard a pop when I landed on it.”</p><p>“Right. Because you landed on it badly after saving <em>a cat </em>from a tree,” she drawled, narrowing her eyes.</p><p>Now that she thought about it, Lance was acting weird. Weirder than normal. She was starting to get the sense that something was definitely off.</p><p>“That’s me. Lance McClain, cat hero extraordinaire.”</p><p>“…Show it to me,” Katie said while she washed her hands and then pulled on a pair of gloves.</p><p>He took his foot out of his dress shoe and pulled his right pant leg up so she could have better access. Katie paused for a moment as she stooped, a slight frown on her face as he tugged down his sock and presented the right ankle. She squinted her eyes, scrutinising it as she carefully rotated the joint.</p><p>“So if I have this right, you landed out of the tree on your right ankle and felt it dislocate and now you think it’s sprained.”</p><p>“Yupp.”</p><p>She glanced up at him briefly before nodding and resuming her careful scrutiny. Lance was quiet as she worked, though he seemed distracted, absentmindedly moving his ankle the way she manipulated it and gently pressed the ligaments.</p><p>“No bruising. Range of motion is normal. No decrease in dorsiflexion. Any current issues?”</p><p>“Uhhh, define issue.”</p><p>“Pain? Joint instability? The usual that goes with an injury?”</p><p>“It was a little swollen a bit ago.”</p><p>“I don’t see any current inflammation. Nor did you react when I pressed any of the ligaments that are usually associated with sprains or dislocations.” Katie yanked his sock back up and stood from her crouch, cocking an irate brow with her hands on her hips. “Which of course makes sense when you <em>make up</em> an injury. You specified to Merla that it was the <em>left</em> ankle when you badgered me to come see you. It’s your chief complaint too. Never seen you get this sloppy before, Lance. Back to faking injuries? Really?”</p><p>He winced and looked away, a little abashed. “In my defence, the times I’ve seen <em>you</em>, I really did have issues I needed to be treated for…”</p><p>“Lance, this is <em>really</em> uncool.” She growled, rolling her eyes. “I’m happy to see you, but…”</p><p>She was gearing up to scold him for this, mostly because she thought they were past this kind of stuff. He knew how busy she was. But when she looked back down at him, she realised it was almost <em>too</em> obvious, like he’d purposely set out to get caught in the lie. And now that she was really paying attention to him, it wasn’t her imagination that he had a sombre look behind his eyes. She was by no means an expert on Lance, but she liked to think she was able to read him pretty decently, and she was convinced there was something going on with him.</p><p>“Okay, Lance. You’ve got my attention. What’s really going on?” Katie sighed and sat down next to him. “You wouldn’t come up with something this stupid unless you were seriously worried. Is it about your arm? Is it something embarrassing you don’t want to tell anyone?”</p><p>“No… umm, I’m, uhh…” he started, a frown marring his brows as he opened and closed his left fist. “I’m… back on active duty.”</p><p>“Yeah. I’m aware. I’m one of the executives who signed off on your medical release.” She nudged his shoulder with a smile. “Do we need to check your brain for memory problems too?”</p><p>“My first assignment back… I’m being transferred, Katie,” Lance finally said, his eyes on his hand. “Short term position.”</p><p>“Transferred?” It wasn’t unheard of actually. Around the time Katie had been in post-secondary, her father had been sent off for a temporary position at another Garrison base. “Where?”</p><p>“Gonna be monitoring and guarding a transreality comet that has been causing weird activity in a quadrant of deep space. Zarkon is having his engineers construct a ship to transport it so it can be put under a maximum security holding cell in Altea. This thing would be seriously dangerous if it landed in the wrong hands.”</p><p>“…That sounds really important. And classified actually.”</p><p>The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Yeah, I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it.”</p><p>She tilted her head. “About what?”</p><p>“About the…” Lance looked up and then snorted when she gave him a pointed look. “Right. But yeah, that’s my mission.”</p><p>“Isn’t this the kind of mission you’d be stoked about? What’s up?”</p><p>Lance’s dull expression was making her nervous.</p><p>“I get to be part of an elite team. It’s awesome. I am stoked.” He winced. “Well, mostly stoked. It’s just that it’s… one year. And that’s if all goes well.”</p><p>And it hit her.</p><p>She couldn’t help the way her stomach dropped as she came to understand why he seemed pretty blue. A yearlong mission. It was like fucking Kerberos all over again.</p><p>“That’s… not at all short term,” Katie muttered in a measured tone, averting her gaze when he turned to her to gauge her reaction. “That’s a pretty long mission, Lance. A whole year?”</p><p>“Compared to the ones other people get sometimes, yeah, it’s pretty short. And it’s not ‘no contact’ at least, so I’ll be able to keep in touch here and there. Maybe not electronically, since there’s no signal transmission, and it might take a while to reach Earth cuz you know, snail mail and all, but—”</p><p>“When do you leave?”</p><p>He blinked and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.</p><p>“Five days. Next Tuesday. That’s why… I needed to see you at least once.”</p><p>“To say goodbye.”</p><p>She stood up, annoyed with herself for the small lump growing in her throat. It wasn’t that she was mad at Lance; it wasn’t his fault.</p><p>What pilot in their right mind would turn down an opportunity like this?</p><p>But damn did it get on her nerves. She was frustrated with the circumstances and timing of it all, especially when they hadn’t had a chance to resolve their last few interactions yet. She spent two extra weeks tending to him, especially after inserting the nanotech, and it had in a way solidified his spot as an important person in her life. He was leaving in less than a week, which meant another whole year of not being able to figure out what was the deal between the two of them. There was no guarantee they’d even be in the same place upon his return, so this was a kiss of death for them, she was sure. And just when they’d really started getting close. And <em>that</em> made her irrationally angry.</p><p>“Okay. Well, I appreciate you stopping by then. Gotta plan for your mission, right? You had your briefing today and got your mission logistics from the admirals, I’m guessing.”</p><p>Lance nodded, looking a little perturbed. “Katie—”</p><p>“No worries. I wish you a safe trip, Lance.”</p><p>She gave him a tight-lipped smile, unsure how to characterise the turbulent emotions in her head, but he stopped her by taking her hand. Katie swallowed hard, letting out a slow exhale and trying to make her expression as neutral as possible when she turned around.</p><p>“Wait, Katie. I actually, uhh… I came here to ask if maybe you wanted to go on a date. Tonight. See if… you— you know…” His cheeks bloomed a bit in red. “If there’s, uh, a future…”</p><p>Her face rouged as well, eyes widening as Lance reached up and took her other hand.</p><p>“I’ve been stalling, but… last time I went on a long mission I almost died and I don’t…” He cleared his throat, giving her a soft, imploring smile though there was apprehension in his eyes. “I understand if that’s a no, or if it’s selfish, and I get it if you’d rather not respond to this especially since I’m about to leave you for a year, but in our line of work, nothing is ever guaranteed. And I’d rather not have that regret before I leave. This wasn’t how I <em>actually</em> wanted to ask you, but I want at least one of my last few days before I leave to be with you.”</p><p>It made sense.</p><p>Katie searched his gaze, heartbeat thrumming in her ears. She was hesitant to agree, but only because it was like inviting and opening herself up to a potential relationship only to lose it in a few days. And while she did like Lance, she’d kept him at a distance to some extent, because he’d crawled under her skin so easily, and she was a little scared how much deeper he’d burrow if she went out with him. The more she got to know him, the deeper he burrowed, and the scarier it was how close they’d gotten in such a short amount of time.</p><p>She chewed on her lower lip when the silence stretched on for too long. “…Yes.”</p><p>“Yeah?” he repeated with baited breath, his expression brightening.</p><p>“We can. Umm, hang out tonight. But not as a date.”</p><p>Not yet anyway.</p><p>She didn’t have real free time to devote proper attention on a date. And if she was to end up going on a date with him, she wanted it to be one where she didn’t have all these concerns weighing at the back of her mind. And no timing issues that would separate them from spending time together uninterrupted.</p><p>But if anything happened to him, she would rather her last memories with him be more than just a short visit at the med bay.</p><p>“A friendly outing,” she continued. “And no later than midnight. I have too much work to finish today.”</p><p>“But you said yes!” His smile was pretty wide as he stood up in excitement. “I’ll pick you up after work then. Nine okay?”</p><p>“It is.”</p><p>“Holy shit! We’re going out!”</p><p>“Lance, quiet down before someone overhears,” she said as she bit back a smile, though he was entirely too giddy to pay any attention to her warnings. “And we are not going out. We’re <em>hanging</em> out.”</p><p>He plonked his hands on her shoulder. “I promise you won’t regret this. I’ll make this an evening you won’t forget!”</p><p>And with that, he left unceremoniously, doubled back when he realised he’d left his shoe, and damn near crashed into the door while hopping up and down trying to leave and put it on his foot at the same time. Katie watched all this happen with a raised brow, honestly wondering if this was about to be a trainwreck of an evening. He turned and gave her a sheepish smile as he left.</p><p>“What a dork…” she muttered, shaking her head with a soft smile.</p><p>She headed back to her lab, feeling a little giddy herself. Colleen was at a workbench carefully scraping the leaves of one of the lilies to collect some cells.</p><p>“Katie,” she glanced up as Katie approached, “perfect timing. Can you place an order for micropipettes? We’re down to our last two boxes, and I like to keep our lab fully stocked.”</p><p>“Uh, sure, but Mom, uhhh… before that…” She fiddled with her sleeve as her mom eyed her curiously. “I know we have some work to finish up, but I was wondering if you’d be okay with me taking a few hours break. Tonight. For a couple hours.”</p><p>“I don’t mind. Any particular reason?” When Katie’s face flushed, Colleen started chuckling deviously. “Like, for example, a certain pilot…”</p><p>“<em>No</em> particular reason.”</p><p>“Whatever you say, baby girl. Don’t worry about us. Go and enjoy your date. It’s not like you’re grounded or something.”</p><p>“It’s not a date.”</p><p>Katie rolled her eyes and headed back to the culture hood to finish up her tasks, though as she set about her work, she found herself smiling.</p><p>Date or not (it was not), she was happy to spend time with Lance, even though she knew he was going to act like a dork and do too much for what this was.</p><p>And she was really looking forward to it.</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>“Knockity, knock,” Lance said, poking his head into her office door.</p><p>Katie glanced up from her laptop, and then back at the time, surprised that he was actually five minutes early.</p><p>“You know, I always took you as the type to show up late to functions all the time.”</p><p>“I am that type. But can’t mess this one up. You don’t seem like the type to see that favourably.” Lance stepped into her office and waited patiently by the door. “Anyway, I know I'm early, so if you’ve got some last minute things to finish up, I don’t mind waiting.”</p><p>“No, I’m pretty much caught up with emails and orders.” She closed out of her programmes and set her laptop and desktop to hibernate. “I’ll be done in a sec and then we can leave.”</p><p>She eyed Lance as he leaned against the doorframe, trying and failing not to make it obvious that he was looking around the cluttered office with interest. First on the books filling her bookshelf that Allura brought her from different planets and then on the countless thick binders stacked along the wall with copious amounts of ongoing research and projects before he finally settled on the large bouquet of all the alien flowers he’d given her.</p><p>“Are these the flowers I got you?” Lance asked with a grin, approaching her desk and picking up the vase as he turned it to and fro. “You kept them all?”</p><p>“I keep them in my office because they were killing the Terran flowers.”</p><p>Katie took her lab coat off and draped it along the back of her chair, before smoothing out her blouse and walking around her desk to grab her jacket and scarf from her coatrack. She eyed Lance as he continued assessing the assortment of flowers.</p><p>“It’s still surprising to see them so well-kept. I thought you’d want to use them for your research. Could come in handy,” he suggested.</p><p>“Maybe…”</p><p>He’d clearly made an effort for this, dressing in casual blue cashmere and clean slacks, and was freshly showered and shaved because he smelled amazing. It kind of made her feel bad. She hadn’t had time to do much in preparation, being in the office all evening, so she was sure she was festering in a full day’s worth of lab grime and sweat. But at least she always kept a change of clothes in her office closet in case of accidental spills, and thankfully, her spare clothes today were fairly nice.</p><p>“You left one of my notes in here. Let’s see what masterpiece of poetry this one was~” Katie scoffed as she tugged on her coat. She heard the rustling of the petals, and then Lance snickered to himself. “Actually… I think Nadia left this for you.”</p><p>She leaned over to look at it.</p><p>
  <em>I won’t be home tonight, P. Feel free to be as loud as you want with him. Rattle the walls, my dear.</em>
</p><p>Katie snatched it from his grasp and crushed it mercilessly in her fist before tossing it straight in the trash, much to Lance’s amusement.</p><p>“Eager to tell people about tonight much?”</p><p>“I didn’t tell anyone,” she said in frustration, nudging at Lance to leave her office before pulling her door shut. “For some reason they just know!”</p><p>(Seriously. How did people already know?)</p><p>“I haven’t told anyone either. But Veronica wished me luck tonight. I thought she was talking about my upcoming mission, but now I’m not so sure…”</p><p>The lab was fairly empty, only a few scientists in their offices working as she and Lance made their way out and down the corridors to get to the back parking lots.</p><p>“By the way, how did you get in my office to leave flowers there in the first place?”</p><p>“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Lance said matter of factly, looking quite pleased with himself. “But I can strike a deal with you: I’ll tell you how I got the stuff in your office… if you apologise.”</p><p>She glowered at him.</p><p>“Well, well… looks like the glove is on the other foot.”</p><p>“Shoe, you dork. It’s <em>shoe</em> is on the other foot.”</p><p>“Regardless,” he smirked, “I have the upper hand on this one.”</p><p>Katie narrowed her eyes. “…It was my mom.”</p><p>“I… What, no. It wasn’t your mom,” Lance said far too quickly and definitely not before she saw the surprise in his gaze.</p><p>“Yes, it was,” she responded, much more confident about it this time. “You’ve never actually been in my office before. That’s why you were taking in the sights earlier. I don’t know how she got my access bypass code, but <em>you</em> definitely got my mom involved. I’m right.”</p><p>“Jeez. You’d think I’d win at least once. Let me be mysterious, dammit.”</p><p>“Lance. You do realise that you getting my mom involved <em>is</em> the reason why everyone knows our business, right? She’s one of the biggest gossips in the entire Garrison. It’s your fault!”</p><p>He shrugged, a rogue grin on his lips as he held the back door open for her. “Well, I’ve no problem with it if it means my competitors will stay away while I’m gone.”</p><p>“I’m not some tree you can piss on to mark your territory.”</p><p>“Katie, you wound me.” He put a hand on his heart in affront as he followed her out. “That was never my intention. I only wanted to get you flowers so you knew I was thinking of you in space.”</p><p>“It’s still your fault that people won’t leave us alone. You need to make it up to me, so let’s go.” She pushed at his back to move faster. It was a little windy out and the cold was seeping into her coat. “I hope you have something planned. I’m not a fan of unorganised surprises.”</p><p>“Somewhere lowkey. Arcade games at that place I was talking about a while back. You’ll love this place. Perfect for unwinding. And maybe bowling?”</p><p>They walked to his fairly busted up car and hopped in after he’d unlocked the doors. Somehow, it was colder in his car than outside as she plopped into the passenger seat.</p><p>“That sounds great. Except for bowling. I fucking suck at that.”</p><p>“Okay great, because I suck too. Nix it from the plan?”</p><p>She snorted. “You have to ask?”</p><p>Once settled in the car, and after he’d cranked the engine and let it and them heat up a bit, Lance reached behind his seat and pulled up a lovely bouquet of flowers from the backseat. He handed it off to her with a smile, and Katie took it, honestly kind of swooning over it. She wasn’t a gushy girl at all, but there was just something about getting flowers from Lance that did make her a little gushy.</p><p>“If you keep giving me flowers, I’m going to run out of places to stash them…”</p><p>“I got you these as congrats for your first space trip. Haven’t been able to give them to you for a while,” he explained as she took a dainty whiff and smiled at the aroma. “A beautiful bouquet for a beautiful woman.”</p><p>God, he was cute.</p><p>She gave him a sidelong look. “…Reminder that this is just a friendly outing.”</p><p>“Reminder for me… or for you?” He laughed when she made a face at him, refusing to respond to his inquiry. “That’s cool, either way. I just want to spend time with you, friendly date or not.”</p><p>“It’s not a date,” she repeated in exasperation, jabbing him in the side to his laughter. “It’s a friendly outing.”</p><p>“Right. A <em>friendly</em> <em>outing</em>.”</p><p>From the playful little smile on his face, she knew he meant none of that.</p><p>He drove them to the adult arcade, a place that was only about a couple blocks away. She was glad he’d thought the location through. She was close enough to work if she needed to get back for emergencies quickly, but it was far enough away that it wouldn’t be a Garrison hangout hot spot like certain coffee places.</p><p>The arcade was pretty cool, though loud, and they had the heat blasting so Katie and Lance checked their coats and scarves at the front. It was a little crowded with people—unsurprising for a Friday night—and from what she could tell, a lot of them were here for a chill date night. It was kind of retro with the type of zany 1990s carpeting she’d only heard of or seen in photos of the olden days centuries ago. The place had tons of game classics like Battlestar and Pacman, but it had every possible arcade game imaginable, and plus, there was a bar with some high end liquor. Downstairs, there was apparently a gambling parlour and some risqué games in a red room that she had no interest in figuring out. Upstairs was a classic karaoke bar with billiards and darts.</p><p>This seemed like the perfect place to chill and unwind after a couple hell months. She found it hard to contain her excitement as she took in the place. And she knew that Lance noticed because she caught the distinct vibes of his smug satisfaction.</p><p>“So,” Lance nudged her with a smug little smile, “was I right or what? I bet you already love this place. Not bad for a friendly date spot, huh?”</p><p>He wasn’t wrong. She did already love this place.</p><p>“Your research paid off,” she said, and then added as an afterthought, “and yes it’s not bad for a <em>hangout</em> spot.”</p><p>“Right. <em>Hangout</em>,” he responded with a completely unapologetic drawl as the bored college kid at the door stamped the back of their hands with the green ‘over 21’ stamp.</p><p>They headed to the bar and both got the special, a kamikaze shot to commence the night, bought a couple hours’ worth of playing time and additional game tokens on their cards, and then went off playing <em>everything</em>. They went from Tekken to alien shoot-out games to skeeball to some snowboarding simulation racing game that almost knocked them flat on their ass to Smash Bros to VR fighting games that made them both get vertigo to pinball to Taiko no Tatsujin (they both hella sucked) to whack-a-mole to Guitar Hero to shooting hoops to Mario Kart to a claw machine filled with Mercury Gameflux (that they both failed at hella times before concluding the game was rigged), and even then they hadn’t scratched the halfway mark of games.</p><p>Lance stepped up to every one of her challenges without hesitation. Games that required double coordination from both hands were a bit of struggle since Lance’s left arm was still recovering and his dexterity was still affected, but he was a pretty good sport about it. Anything involving legs, he had no trouble with. He <em>killed</em> at DDR and even drew a small, cheering crowd because he was actually dancing while playing.</p><p>Playing games nonstop was great. She honestly loved it because she’d barely had time to relax with all the stuff going on with work recently. She hadn’t been in such a good mood in <em>weeks</em>.</p><p>They spent their time chatting about random things in their past, how intense their post-secondary training was, dumb things that had happened at the Garrison in their respective years, and fun memories at the school that they both shared.</p><p>Like that time during finals when Hunk was stress sleepwalking in the nude.</p><p>(The singlehanded <em>greatest</em> thing to ever happen while they’d been in school to be honest).</p><p>Once they’d done the rounds with a bunch of games, they pretty much settled at air hockey. And ten full games later (which Lance lost eight rounds of, hah!), they were both kind of worn out from all the bright, flashing lights of the arcade games, and decided to get snacks at the bar and chill. Katie bragged all the way there.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah. So you won at air hockey. I won at Guitar Hero and my fingers aren’t even working at 100%.”</p><p>“Doesn’t count,” she argued, turning her nose up. “You’ve been playing guitar since you were a kid.”</p><p>“Yeah, okay.” Lance snorted. “You’re just pissed I owned at Tekken too.”</p><p>“Can’t hear you over the sound of all my air hockey wins…”</p><p>But she really couldn’t remember who’d won more overall; she’d stopped keeping track early on in their night. And she was distracted by how much fun she was having with Lance.</p><p>They settled for sharing a basket of the advertised mozzarella sticks with a couple bottles of pop and sat at one of the free high tables, watching the bowlers. Katie found herself watching Lance for a bit too, fairly impressed with how much progress he was making using his right hand. His movements were no longer as awkward, and he was definitely getting more used to using it for most functions. He’d mostly been using it all night; anyone who didn’t know about his injury wouldn’t really be able to tell his right wasn’t his dominant unless he wrote something.</p><p>“Do you need a referral to psych for therapy?”</p><p>Lance paused with a frown, mozzarella stick halfway to his mouth. “I don’t think so. I’m in a pretty good mood. Why? Do you think I do?”</p><p>“I think you’re holding back.”</p><p>“I mean…” Lance’s lips pulled up in a slow smirk. “If you wanted more of Loverboy Lance, all you had to do was ask.”</p><p>“<em>Not</em> about that, you goof,” she sighed with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t you dare start with that dorky flirting or I’m leaving.”</p><p>“Well you didn’t elaborate! I’m not even really sure what you’re talking about to be honest.”</p><p>“You went through something traumatic, Lance, and every time I hear from you, you’re all bubbly and happy-go-lucky,” Katie said with a shrug, picking off some breading on her mozzarella stick. “All of your emails to me have been cheerful and that just makes me think you’re forcing your negative emotions down. It’s a good quality to have—cheerful optimism—but it’s kind of weird that it’s all optimistic 24/7. Or rather than weird, it’s worrisome. Are you okay? Like actually.”</p><p>He nodded, a pensive look on his face as he leaned against the back of his chair and took a sip from his bottle.</p><p>“You’re not wrong, you know?” Lance finally admitted. “It’s just… there’s so much going on in everyone’s lives—you too—that I don’t really like complaining if I can help it. Plus, I really am improving daily, and I like to celebrate those small victories more than I like to dwell on the things that haven’t been so great. Besides, I already had my psych eval for clearance, and he didn’t seem to think I needed more assessment.”</p><p>“That wasn’t therapy though. Different purpose. Lance, I may be busy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear from you about everything, even the bad shit. I mean, you essentially lost the function of your dominant arm among other worse things. You almost died. Have you even talked about that with anyone?”</p><p>“Hunk, a bit, but like I said: everyone has stuff going on. And he gets pretty freaked out about his friends getting hurt. Refused to leave me alone when I was discharged to go home.” He pulled up his left sleeve and looked at the red, discoloured skin of his radiation burn. “It’s not as much of a struggle anymore. It’s been a little tough having to relearn how to use this arm, sure, and I definitely started out in a shitty place, but PT has helped. And it helps that your nano tech has been mending the nerves and damage. My arm used to be purple as hell. It’s improving, slowly but surely. And slow progress is better than no progress to me.”</p><p>She was relieved to hear he felt he’d been doing well, but she didn’t want him to feel like he didn’t have anyone to turn to if he needed to rant.</p><p>“I know you already had a successful psych eval, but I still feel like you should go to therapy. Maybe get a session in before you leave. And… you know, I enjoy Mr. Good Time Guy, but I don’t mind Mopey Lance.” Katie set her hand on his with a soft smile. “So you can tell me what’s going on whenever you want, Lance. I’ll listen to it. Even if you send it through goofy, ridiculous memes. I know you use humour to deal with difficult situations and if you need someone to talk to or meme at, even outside of appropriate work hours, I can be your springboard.”</p><p>“…Are you saying I’ve <em>earned</em> your number?” he said at length, a song in his tone.</p><p>“Not anymore since you had to do all that…”</p><p>“Wait, no! I take it back! You can’t fault me for that! I never recovered from my foot-in-mouth disease when I was younger.”</p><p>“Clearly,” she snorted.</p><p>Lance chuckled, turning his hand over to grasp hers. “In answer to your question, I am okay. Promise. But I’ll make time to see a therapist before I leave.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>“And I’ll make sure to send you hundreds of memes for the next few days before I leave.”</p><p>“Not as good.”</p><p>They finished off their little break talking about awkward puberty days and acne—which apparently Lance never got while Katie was a pizza face the year she started menstruating which was <em>unfair</em>. Her skin had cleared up, yes, but puberty was not initially kind to her. They also debated—read: argued—over the best Souls game.</p><p>(It was Bloodborne. Anyone who disagreed could kiss her ass).</p><p>And then Lance fell out of his chair with a squawk when he leaned too far back on the hind legs, and she had to force her neutral expression back in place by the time he clambered to his feet, red faced and sputtering excuses to save face.</p><p>Honestly.</p><p>Anyone else <em>this </em>dorky she wouldn’t give the time of day, but she actually loved his shenanigans, even though half the time he made her want to strangle him. He kept her on her toes. And she enjoyed that. She was awkward at socialising, awkward with people in general, but Lance made it so easy.</p><p>After playing the other half of interesting games, they had a horde of tickets between them and only a handful of tokens left. They decided to give bowling a try just to use up the remaining tokens on their cards, but quit by the time they reached halfway through the game and neither of them had even gotten to forty points yet.</p><p>“We should have stuck to our original plan,” Katie groused as they closed the glass door to the bowling area. “I hate bowling.”</p><p>Lance laughed, sticking his hands in his pockets. “I honestly thought I could score enough points to impress you and request a kiss, but that plan is shot to hell. Should we cash out our tickets then?”</p><p>She ignored his comment. “Sure, but I don’t really need any of the prizes to be honest. Our place is too cluttered, and I’m kind of a hoarder. Nadia has a tendency to keep everything she brings back from space too.”</p><p>“You know, I always imagined you would be one. I bet your room is the messiest of your entire place. I’m talking dirty takeout boxes and dishes on every surface and clothes strewn across the room and bits of unfinished projects and documents scattered around.”</p><p>He was dead on.</p><p>“You really weren’t kidding about reading me well…” she muttered under her breath, though she waved off his inquisitive look when he glanced at her.</p><p>As they started heading back to the front, some guy ran out of the laser tag arenas to them.</p><p>“Hey! You guys free for a laser tag game?” he asked them. “We need two more people to make the teams ten each so we can play in the big arena. We can cover you for tokens. Y’all in?”</p><p>Lance glanced at Katie, who shrugged in indifferent agreement. Why not? Someone else was covering them, so she didn’t see a problem with it. While she wasn’t that big of a fan of laser tag, Matt had once had a birthday party with it, and she’d had some fun.</p><p>“Sure, we’ll play.”</p><p>They headed in the lobby of the arenas with the guy to cheers from the rest of the waiting group. After getting suited up with their vests and guns, the monitor explained rules, how to aim for more points from different targets, played the little storyline video, and then they were released one team at a time before the ten second timer started the game.</p><p>It was sincerely dark in there, though the neon scenery and props and vest lights were somewhat visible. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the light. Katie couldn’t really see shit, so she favoured defensive playing, stealth, and hiding in the mini rubber bunkers only to appear when safe for her to get someone. The apparent deal was that an alien invasion had decimated parts of earth. One group was the aliens while the other was Earth’s last line of defence. She and Lance were in the alien group.</p><p>Lance was honestly going ham, him and a couple other aliens taking full offensive and going after people like madmen. The game was for the most part neck-in-neck, growing much more intense by the last minute that no one stayed playing it safe and started trying to rack up as many points as they could. She watched Lance run and slide under someone’s legs just as they shot at him, avoiding getting hit perfectly as if in a movie. He lifted his gun and tagged their chest from underneath with a perfect shot.</p><p>And then careened right into one of their bunkers when he couldn’t stop his momentum, crashing into two of their hiding teammates and knocking them over like bowling pins. Katie did everything in her power to keep from bursting out laughing, and even had to turn away, but it was a battle she was about to lose with the way Lance had gone flying over the edge.</p><p>“The only strike I got today…” Lance groaned, standing up with the others and patting the dust and dirt his clothes.</p><p>Katie and a couple others headed over to their team, partially concerned and honestly pretty impressed.</p><p>“Dude, that was <em>insane</em>!” one of the guys shouted, fist bumping him.</p><p>“I call that Threading the Needle 2.0,” Lance remarked as he smiled at Katie and pretended to blow smoke off his laser gun.</p><p>Just for that corny reminder, Katie shot at his vest, and it flickered red, signifying he’d been hit.</p><p>“Hey! We’re on the same team!”</p><p>“Yes, I’m aware.”</p><p>The distraction made the other team get the jump on them though. They were ambushed, trapped in their bunker while the other team got multiple shots in. The game ended a little after that, main lights blinking on and the ‘game over’ voice overhead announcing the end while their vests and guns powered down. Everyone headed out of the arena, talking about best hits and how much fun it’d been.</p><p>The aliens lost, but Lance had been a significant factor in getting them points. Fifty-two percent of the points were from him, and he won MVP award for 100% shooting accuracy. He really was a sharpshooter, even using his right hand, and though she’d been concerned about him going back to active field duty with a recovering arm, this just confirmed why the admirals didn’t want to leave him benched for very long.</p><p>Katie on the other hand was a bit of a terrible shot, but she’d gotten the least tags on her vest. She was pretty sure it was because her stature made her a harder target to lock on to.</p><p>They left the laser tag area feeling refreshed, though after all that running around, she was kind of done with the hyperactive, high energy activities. She wanted to keep hanging out with Lance though, especially since he was so easy to spend time with. For good or bad, there was never a dull moment when she was around him.</p><p>And she loved that.</p><p>“Damn, that game just about wore me out,” Lance said with a yawn, verbalising her very thoughts at that moment. “You think you’re in shape, and then you get winded by a fake playground. My back is killing me.”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that has more to do with you doing the absolute most and sliding into a barricade.” She checked her watch, glad to see it was only seven past eleven and they hadn’t reached her self-imposed limits. Now that she was out and about, she didn’t want to go back to her cold office, studying specimen into the early morning hours until her vision was swimming. “Was there anything else in your plans for tonight? We’ve got time. Only just past eleven.”</p><p>He looked surprised, but pleased as he popped a stick of gum in his mouth. “As a matter of fact, yeah, if you’re okay with going a bit past the midnight mark. There’s a minigolf place a little drive away. I thought it would be fun to do. You love minigolf, right?”</p><p>“I don’t mind going a bit over midnight. And yes, I love it. You’re a pretty thorough researcher.”</p><p>“Only when it pertains to you,” he said with an honest smile. “I’m on a mission to finally impress you.”</p><p>“You already did, you idiot. A long time ago.”</p><p>“Really? When?”</p><p>The moment he decided to go for fighter pilot and countless times since. But she wouldn’t tell him just yet.</p><p>“I’m gonna head to the toilets real quick and then we can go,” she replied instead before heading off.</p><p>Katie went through the motions completely lost in thought. She was having a really nice time. Disregarding the fact that she was with Lance, it’d been a long time since she’d even gone out somewhere for fun, and she missed that feeling of letting go of the tension and stress of her day. Her job was demanding, yes, but she’d forgotten what it was like not putting it at the forefront of her entire life. Day after day of nothing but work had squeezed out a lot of enjoyment of other aspects of her life. And taking a break had always made her appreciate her work that much more when away from it.</p><p>Belatedly, she realised Lance’s justification for choosing this place to bring her was correct. All things considered, he’d planned a perfect outing and evening, and it was a bit disappointing again to think that they’d had so much fun and now he was going to be gone for a while. They had some sort of inexplicable connection. It sucked that she wanted so badly to see where things would go with him now. She wondered if that was on his mind too. In any case, if it was, she would do her best not to bring it up while they were hanging since it was kind of upsetting.</p><p>After drying her hands, she slapped her face twice, deciding to make the best of whatever time was left of this adventure, and then walked back out with a smile on her face.</p><p>Lance was standing near the plastic picnic tables near the prize booth, looking lost in thought, though he perked up when she walked up to him.</p><p>“Hope you don’t mind, but I kind of gave one of the guys who was playing laser tag with us most all of our tickets. He wanted to get one of the giant Electric Mouse plushies for his girlfriend, but he didn’t have enough tickets.”</p><p>“I’m okay with it, but <em>Electric Mouse</em>?” She looked at the gigantic plush toys with a frown. “Man, that’s clearly a Pikachu.”</p><p>“Yeah, <em>I</em> know, but I don’t think <em>they</em> want to pay copyright for selling official memorabilia, hence the workaround.” He laughed at the expression on her face and rubbed the back of his neck. “I just wanted to help him out because apparently he’s on a first date and really wants to impress this girl. I can relate. My first date ever was a complete, godawful mess. Tripped trying to open my car door at the end of the night and yanked down Jenny Shaybon’s skirt and accidentally pantsed her in front of some superiors. Our relationship was over before it had even really begun.”</p><p>Katie dropped her head, lips folding in as she took slow breaths to stop from laughing because Lance looked kind of distressed about it.</p><p>“That’s, uhh…” She cleared her throat, doing her best not to show the fact that she was about to laugh. “Umm… that’s unfortunate. At least you can laugh about it now.”</p><p>“She works in Logistics at the Garrison and this was five years ago, so not really. I can clearly see you laughing,” Lance commented dryly, arms folded across his chest though his own lips were twitching like he wanted to laugh. “Alright, then. Let’s hear how yours was. Tell me how your first date went since you seem to think that my <em>traumatic</em> experience was so funny.”</p><p>Katie shrugged. “Technically… I’ve never been on one.”</p><p>“What? I thought you’ve dated suitors?”</p><p>“Why do you keep using the word suitors? And I would not call meeting for lunch at the Garrison and a couple kisses an actual ‘<em>date’</em>. I was too busy for dating, and they both eventually lost interest in me.”</p><p>“But you’re amazing to be around.” Lance looked well and truly flabbergasted. “So wait, does that mean technically I’m your first real date?”</p><p>“Negative considering this <em>isn’t</em> a date,” she said staunchly.</p><p>“Okay, this is unacceptable. We can’t go out—”</p><p>“<em>Hang </em>out.”</p><p>“—and not have you get something to commemorate it!”</p><p>“You already got me flowers, Lance,” she argued, really not bothered by the fact. She was a homebody to begin with and romance wasn’t even close to the forefront of her mind, so it wasn’t that big a deal to her. “That’s more than enough. It’s fine.”</p><p>“Hold on just a sec,” he said, undeterred. “And close your eyes.”</p><p>Katie sighed, but Lance stayed right where he was with an expectant look until she acquiesced and closed her eyes. She heard him walk away and stood there, arms crossed, knowing she probably looked ridiculous. It didn’t take him too long to return though, and she heard the table in front of her creak as she felt the air shift with Lance’s return.</p><p>“Hold out your hands.” When she did, he set something soft in her hands. “It’s all the tickets we had left so couldn’t get anything cool, but this is for you.”</p><p>She opened her eyes and Lance was sitting on the edge of the table, a wide grin on his face as he gestured to her hands. Katie looked down, and it was a cute, mini-Pidgey plush toy.</p><p>“A Pidgey.”</p><p>“Yupp—well, a <em>Podgey</em>. For copyright reasons.” He explained. “But get it? Because your friends call you Pidge? And you’re small like a pigeon? Hence, a Pidgey!”</p><p>She wrinkled her nose. “Lance, that was terrible.”</p><p>“They can’t all be winners, yeesh. Bad jokes are part of the Lance experience. Deal with it.” Lance laughed and took her free hand. “But honestly, this is more of a thanks for being part of my life. I’m glad you gave me the chance to make these memories with you before I leave. I’ll store them in my heart forever while I’m away from you.”</p><p>It was all so cheesy, and yet his cute, crooked smile made her heart thump hard in her chest while butterflies in her stomach erupted as she held his gaze.</p><p>That was Lance for her.</p><p>Cheesy. Kind-hearted, goofy, funny, slightly arrogant, a bit cocky, and kind of a weirdo in some ways. An absolute dork in every way. Lance, who made her life infinitely brighter every time she was with him. Lance, who gave Katie the urge to wrap herself up in his arms and hold on tight and never let go and…</p><p>Oh.</p><p>“Have I left you speechless with my quite clever gift?” he joked.</p><p>She shook her head slowly, stepping between his legs as she rested her hands on his shoulders. He looked a little surprised when she leaned in and closed her mouth over his, but he kissed her back enthusiastically. Lance rested his hands loosely on her back, drawing her close, lips sliding over hers sensuously. She bunched the fabric of his sweater in her hands as she grew lost in the heat of his mouth. The loud noises of the machines, blinking lights, fans blasting, screaming crowds all faded away as she focused on Lance. The softness of his lips. His refreshing aftershave. The mint taste of his gum.</p><p>Kissing him was as easy as breathing.</p><p>It felt right.</p><p>“Hi…” Lance murmured against her lips with a small smile when they broke away for a second.</p><p>“Hey…”</p><p>“Another thank you?”</p><p>She held her lower lip between her teeth as she fiddled with his collar, her neck and face feeling hot.</p><p>“Sure… let’s go with that.”</p><p>“Hmm. If this is what a friendly outing is like, I can’t imagine how amazing a real date would be…”</p><p>“Read the moment, you dork.”</p><p>He chuckled and leaned in, closing the scant distance and dropping another chaste kiss on her lips. It was no more than a soft press of his lips to hers, and yet it still set her pulse on fire. Then he pulled back and cocked his head towards the door.</p><p>“Wanna take off to the minigolf place?”</p><p>Katie nodded and stepped out of his way as he stood. They headed over to the coat check, getting their stuff back. Ever the gentleman, he helped her get her coat on and then held the door open for her as they walked out in the sharp blast of cold night air. They booked it towards his car, wanting to get out of the cold as quickly as possible.</p><p>It was kind of a shock to her system considering the arcade had been super cosy and warm. Her hands were cold and she wasn’t looking forward to having to rub them together and blow hot air on them to get them to unstiffen.</p><p>As if reading her mind, Lance reached over and engulfed her hand in his, instantly warming her own.</p><p>She laced her fingers with his. “You know this is still a friendly outing, right?”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>The drive to the pirate putt-putt place wasn’t that long, though it kind of sucked that it was outdoors. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t overcrowded with people because of the cold weather so they were able to pay and get their clubs and balls with minimal wait time. The pirate course was for older folks and had more holes so they chose that one, though honestly, Katie wondered if they <em>should have </em>started with the under-the-sea course considering Lance was so unbelievably bad at minigolf.</p><p>“You know…” she drawled when he missed the hole not even half a metre from him. She’d finished this one three attempts ago, and he was taking forever. “For being a sharpshooter, you sure suck at this.”</p><p>“Hey! I’m trying my best here. I’m a tall guy, this putt thing is only the length up to my knee, and the damn hole is small! This game is obviously cheating!”</p><p>She snorted, leaning against one of the wooden posts blocking players from the fake pond. “How?”</p><p>“It’s geared towards Hobbits! I bet that’s why you’re so good at this. You <em>are</em> a Hobbit!”</p><p>She pointed the end of her club at him with a menacing smile. “Just because you’re cute doesn’t mean you’re exempt from being injected with a—”</p><p>“Neurotoxin, yeah, yeah…” He groaned when he missed the hole again and it bounced off a rock and rolled back down the hill. The couple behind them waiting to start the course was laughing. “What the fuck.”</p><p>She pushed off the post and walked over to him, snickering. “Lance you need help lining up your shot. Here, turn around.”</p><p>He was confused as she walked behind him and then froze when she wrapped her arms around his middle and covered his hands with hers on the butt of the putt. She leaned around his side, amused by the fact that the tips of his ears were definitely not red due to the cold weather. The whole thing was silly, especially the manoeuvring given their difference in size, but she felt like messing with him a bit, and Lance didn’t seem to know what to do and it made her want to laugh.</p><p>“Visualise the power needed to traverse a certain distance while taking into consideration the forces acting upon it at this distance. Like friction. It’s all simple physics.”</p><p>“There is nothing <em>simple</em> about physics,” he groused. “Is it bad that I find this really hot…?”</p><p>“Pay attention, Lance.”</p><p>“Will you punish me if I don’t, Professor?” Lance joked in a low voice.</p><p>“I can. But you might not survive it.” He looked perturbed by her response. She guided his hands to follow through a fake swing. “Consider torque when you’re swinging too, okay? And your force has to account for the incline.”</p><p>“What the hell is torque? Katie, that’s jibberish to me.”</p><p>Katie snickered, patting his back as she stepped away to watch him swing. Lance lined up his shot, eyes narrowed as he gauged the distance. She could already tell from the way he pulled back the putt, that he was about to use too much power to get it back up the hill.</p><p>And he really did, because he whacked that damn golf ball, it sailed right over the hill, bounced on a rock, and ended up wedged in the deep crack of one of the vulgar displays of a pirate lackey mooning them. Lance looked appalled.</p><p>And that was it.</p><p>Katie just about lost it, bending over to grip one of the wood posts as she clutched her stomach, unable to catch her breath she was laughing so hard. It was just too much, and she couldn’t contain it anymore.</p><p>“Oh my God. You have been a <em>complete</em> dork all night. I can’t take it!” she said in between gasps and peals of laughter. “I mean, you fell out of your chair and then that laser tag incident, the Jenny story, and, and now <em>this</em>.”</p><p>“Glad you’re finding amusement in all of this.” Lance eyed her as she caught a second wind, doubling over again and her abs hurting from ugly laughing. He stepped over the rope onto a rock by the giant wooden prop ship, reaching up and plucking his blue ball from the plastic ass. “Excuse me sir, while I reach in your crack…”</p><p>“Holy shit, I have not laughed like that in a long time.” She coughed a couple times, sniffling and wiping at her eyes and letting her last few chuckles peter out as Lance climbed back in the course and approached her, waiting patiently beside her as she tried to control it. She normally kept her emotions reeled in pretty well, but she just couldn’t anymore. Lance was such a perfect idiot, and it was impossible to keep a straight face around him. “And on top of all that, you’re losing <em>so</em> badly because you are just terrible at this.”</p><p>“Actually, I think I’m winning…”</p><p>She snorted, wiping her eyes again as she pulled the score card out of her back pocket. “Umm, <em>no</em>, you’re not. See? Look at the score.”</p><p>She pointed at their numbers and looked up to show him, only for her smile to freeze when she met his eyes and realised he was watching her, soft smile on his lips. Her smile fell away, a hot swooping sensation in her lower belly from the intensity of his unreadable look.</p><p>“…Definitely winning,” he repeated in a lower voice as he stepped closer and tucked an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’d give anything to hear your laugh every day for the rest of my life…”</p><p>Her face grew hot, brows lifting in surprise and for a moment, she almost forgot how to breathe.</p><p>“Katie…” he stroked her cheek with his finger, “I know this isn’t—”</p><p>
  <em>“Mister, watch out!”</em>
</p><p>Lance and Katie glanced up just in time to watch one of the metal putt-putt clubs come flying out of literal nowhere and clock Lance in the face with a loud <em>thunk</em> that made Katie flinch. His head snapped back, and he tumbled backwards, legs getting caught on the rope barrier as he landed straight on his back in the little pond.</p><p>“Lance!” Katie hopped over the barrier to the edge of the pond. Some of the bystanders also headed over to look and so did the apparent tween who’d let go of his club. “Are you okay?”</p><p>Lance sat up, clothes wet and hair plastered to his head, looking completely disoriented as a stream of blood trailed down the left side of his face. Katie crouched in front of him, concerned by his dazed confusion when he wiped the blood off his eyelid with a grimace.</p><p>“What’s with all this blood? Is my nose broken?! Wait no, it doesn’t hurt.”</p><p>“There’s an open wound above your eyebrow. Wounds to the scalp and forehead tend to bleed profusely,” she said, gently reaching out and holding his chin as she inspected his face for any other signs of trauma. The kid nearby was apologising profusely, but Lance waved him off with an easygoing smile. “Did you hit the back of your head when you landed?”</p><p>“Unclear. But I do think I died and went to heaven, because you look like an angel.”</p><p>“Okay… so you’re clearly concussed…” she drawled while Lance objected immediately with claims he was flirting. “You need stitches for this, Lance. I can take care of that at the Garrison.”</p><p>Although she wished she had a towel or napkin or tissue or something sanitary to put pressure on the wound right now. She knew the blood was annoying, but Lance kept wiping at it with dirty hands, and it was starting to bug her. That was the fastest way to introduce bacteria.</p><p>Lance groaned as Katie and the other couple helped get him up to his feet. He was totally drenched, and she felt really bad because not only was his coat completely wet, but it was also cold outside and she could already see the beginning of his chattering teeth. They needed to get somewhere warm asap.</p><p>One of the operators came over to assess the situation. Apparently the tween was just playing around, pretending to be a pro and his club slipped from his grip after swinging. Lance was a good sport over it, telling the kid that it was no big deal again, even though everyone was staring at the red smear of blood streaming down his face with barely disguised shock. After confirming no incident report needed to be filled, the operator promised them free vouchers for the unfortunate accident.</p><p>A quick trip to the bathroom for Lance to clean his cut and then they were rushing back to his car. He was fully shivering by this point and the bleeding wasn’t stopping, as expected, even though he was pressing a paper towel to it. It was getting soaked through with blood.</p><p>“Give me your keys, Lance.”</p><p>He tossed them, and she caught them and made quick work of getting his car on and heat blasting from the ancient AC box. After rolling back the passenger seat, she ordered Lance to lie back and let her know if he experienced vertigo while they were driving.</p><p>“I don’t have a concussion,” he reiterated, tugging on his seatbelt. “I can drive.”</p><p>“With one eye closed? Besides, you look like you’re lightheaded. No chances.”</p><p>“You just want to drive my car.”</p><p>“Your car is one sharp gust of wind away from being carried off and flung like a ragdoll, Lance. I can assure you that is <em>not</em> the case.”</p><p>“Stop disrespecting Stella. This baby has been passed down between siblings for generations.” He patted the dashboard affectionately. “She’s special, this one. Lotta good memories. I lost my virginity in this car, you know?”</p><p>“Eww…” she muttered, backing out of the spot and heading out of the lot to take them back to the Garrison med bay. “I hope it’s been disinfected.”</p><p>She knew the answer to that though, and it wasn’t helped by Lance’s little laugh.</p><p>“You know, Katie… you called me cute earlier. Thought you got away with it by slipping it in with a threat, but I heard you. Bet you thought I forgot.”</p><p>“If I said that, it’s only because I meant cute in a creepy sort of way.”</p><p>“Sure you did.”</p><p>“Hush, Lance.” She shushed him as she turned on the freeway. “You’re imagining conversations because of your concussion.”</p><p>He chuckled, a brow raised as he glanced at her. “Is that so…”</p><p>The rest of the ride passed by in silence, though Lance’s paper towel was fully soaked through by the time she parked in the back lot of the med bay. Though the bleeding had slowed, it was still oozing, the trickle dripping down his face every once in a while until he wiped it.</p><p>She cut the car off and turned to him. “Okay, here’s the deal. I’m gonna grab my lab coat, grab some supplies, and I want you to meet me at the emergency exit on the east wing of the med bay. I’ll let you in. We use the last room at the end for extra storage and as a rest room when we’re exhausted and need a quick nap.”</p><p>It wasn’t fashioned with the appropriate necessities for a regulation hospital room and as such, the bed was metal framed and more uncomfortable, but she couldn’t stash Lance in her lab. Everyone would see him. And the last thing she wanted was more rumours circulating about the nature of their relationship.</p><p>Lance nodded, looking at her with one eye shut when some blood dripped down. “Roger that, Doc.”</p><p>She hopped out of his car, heading to the back door and imputing the code in quickly. The lab was still quiet when she briskly walked in, most offices closed with the exception of one or two, though nobody was actually in at the moment. There was one lab tech working on some centrifuging, but they had in noise-cancelling headphones and clearly couldn’t hear her. Katie got her office open quickly, swapped her coat for her lab coat, and hurried back upstairs to head to east wing.</p><p>There was no one at the nurse’s station at the moment, and the receptionist she saw getting coffee in the lounge. Katie grabbed what she needed quickly and went on her way. She thought she was home free until the men’s room door opened, and Keith walked out. She almost crashed into him, though he steadied her by the shoulders with an ‘easy’.</p><p>“Keith. What are you doing here this late?”</p><p>“Needed a suppressant, remember? I told you yesterday my Galran hormones were getting aggressive again. Having trouble controlling this.” He pointed to his mouth where his fangs were just peeking out from his upper lip. When he bared his teeth, she saw what he meant. He had this vampire look thing going on. Truth be told, it added to his emo brooding charm though. “You told me to stop by tonight. When I came here, I was told you left for a bit. I thought I’d wait, but it’s been hours.”</p><p>Shit. It really had slipped her mind.</p><p>“Oh right… Uhhh, I forgot.”</p><p>He squeezed her shoulder to let her know he was fine. “Busy working, huh?”</p><p>“Yupp. Busy. Uh, working.” She reached up and set her hand on his, an apologetic smile on her face. “We can go down to the lab and take care of that now?”</p><p>“No worries. It’s not so pressing that I can’t wait another day. I’ll stop by this weekend, okay?”</p><p>“Thanks, Keith. I’ll see you tomorrow.”</p><p>“Night.” He headed off and then turned around, walking backwards as a smirk grew on his face. “Oh and enjoy the rest of your date with Lance.”</p><p>Katie’s brows shot up her forehead, but Keith chuckled and turned with a nonchalant wave. She sighed and hurried off through the east wing before someone else saw her. When she opened the emergency door, Lance was standing there, fully shivering and she ushered him in quickly and shut the door before the alarm went off, looking around for any prying eyes of a nurse.</p><p>She snuck him in the designated rest room, flipped the card to red—to let other nurses know it was occupied—and then locked the door. She flipped on the space heater, urged Lance to strip asap before he caught a cold, and then shoved a towel and soap at him and made him go shower because that fake pond water smelled like piss, and he kind of did too.</p><p>While he washed himself down in the attached bathroom, she hung his clothes up to dry near the door and set his wallet and keys on a corner of the table after she’d wiped them down. Katie shrugged her lab coat off, setting it on the back of a chair and slowly pulled up the blinds so moonlight could stream into the room so she could see. She heard talking outside the window and went still, watching as two laughing lab techs headed back from a short break, coffees in hand.</p><p>Once Lance was done and finally stepped out of the attached bathroom, hair wet, towel around his waist, post shower steam tumbling in the hospital room, his cut was still dribbling out blood, much to her dismay.</p><p>“Does it hurt, Lance?” she questioned, directing him to sit on the table as she rearranged her supplies for the procedure.</p><p>It was the only way she had enough light to properly see him, and she wanted to avoid turning on the lights. There would less likely be someone wanting to check on the person in the rest room if they thought they were asleep.</p><p>“Not really.” He sat at the edge, ankles crossed in front of him and fingers tapping a nonchalant rhythm on the corner of the table as she mopped up the bit oozing out. “Stings a bit though.”</p><p>“This bit might hurt a little.”</p><p>He watched her as she pulled on her gloves and got to work. She tore out an antiseptic and cleaned the wound once more before carefully holding the edges together and slowly applying the liquid stitches from edge to edge of his wound. Lance winced a bit, though he sat perfectly still, letting her get her work done with little comments.</p><p>“How’s your hearing?” she asked quietly, removing the applicator carefully and tossing it in the bin.</p><p>“It’s fine.”</p><p>“Any balance or gait concerns? Aside from the left arm, any difficulty performing menial tasks while showering?”</p><p>“All good.”</p><p>She nodded, holding the edges together as the stitching dried up. “Feeling dizzy at all?”</p><p>“I’m okay, Katie. Really,” Lance remarked softly, and when their eyes met for a moment, she shifted her gaze right back to the drying stitching above his eyebrow. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been hit in the head by metal, to be honest. At least there’s no bruising this time.”</p><p>“Well that explains the 24/7 dorkiness then. You’ve probably been concussed this whole time.” She chuckled when he gave her an unamused look. “And don’t be so sure about that. You might see some discolouration in the next few days. I’d advise taking an anti-inflammatory tomorrow, okay?”</p><p>He nodded, and they fell quiet as they waited for the stitch to set. Katie could feel his eyes on her face and an involuntary blush crept up her cheeks, though she did her best to pretend that she didn’t notice. It was kind of unnerving, considering he was following her every movement.</p><p>“So… how did you enjoy the <em>friendly outing</em>,” he finally said, emphasising the last two words with a smile.</p><p>“It was no worse than studying quantum mechanics.” Katie dropped her fingers from the wound, stepping back and nodding at her work when no blood leaked. The wound was properly sealed, and she expected full healing sans scarring. “Don’t pick or scratch at this, okay? You can get the stitch wet, but try not to scrub at it and avoid abrasive actions.”</p><p>“I— <em>studying</em> <em>quantum mechanics</em>? Is that a… good thing in your scale?” Lance made a face as he scratched where the towel stopped on his thigh. “That doesn’t sound like a nice thing. It sounds bad. And scary.”</p><p>She smiled as she cleaned up the rest of her supplies, but didn’t respond despite the disgruntled expression on his face. Of course, she wasn’t about to tell him that she loved quantum mechanics. If she made it too easy for him, he’d get all smug because if this had been a date, she would have given him pretty high marks. It’d been the most fun she’d had in years.</p><p>Katie took her penlight from her lab coat’s pocket and checked his pupils in turn, watching them both constrict appropriately in the midnight blue irises when confronted with light.</p><p>“Kind of sucks that the night got cut short.”</p><p>“There’ll be other days, Lance.” She clicked off her light, slipping it back in her pocket and searching for her reflex hammer to avoid Lance’s gaze when his lips turned up in a grin. “Hold your arms out in front of you, palms up.”</p><p>He did it, though it took some concentration for him to get his left arm in the position. Then she instructed him to touch his nose and then her held-up finger repeatedly as she moved it around to different locations, noting his reaction times to what his baseline records showed. So far, so good. He didn’t seem to have any cerebellar damage after getting clipped in the head like that.</p><p>“So… just so we’re on the same page,” Lance mused, “when you say ‘other days’… does that mean you want to go out with me again?”</p><p>“Can’t let you go around thinking you’re better at Tekken than I am. Plus whooping your ass in air hockey never gets old.”</p><p>He let out a loud bark of laughter, though quickly staunched it to prevent anyone outside from hearing them. She stepped over his legs to move to his side and manoeuvred his right arm to check his bicep’s reflex. It was normal, but as expected, when she switched to his left, the reflex was less reactive.</p><p>And it kind of worried her, truth be told. She knew he could handle himself in a fight, and he was for the most part recovered enough to participate in strenuous activity, but it didn’t change the fact that she was concerned of his limitations with his arm. If disarmed and backed into a corner, he would be at a disadvantage.</p><p>“Something the matter?” Lance asked, poking the furrow between her brows with his free hand, and she shot him an annoyed look. “The way you’re boring a hole in my arm makes me think something’s off.”</p><p>“I just wish you had more time to recover.”</p><p>He shrugged. “I’m just glad to be out and about again. I hate being incapacitated.”</p><p>“I know… it’s just… I’d liked to have given you another week for some more flexibility for your arm. I know that’s not how it works at the Garrison, but you deserve some rest after what you’ve been through. I mean…” She gestured to the extensive splotches of reddened skin along his arm. It wasn’t puffy and she could see it was gradually improving, but still. “You’re visibly injured. It’s like the admirals don’t give a damn that their pilots need recovery time. How do they expect you all to do your best out in the field if you’re not even in top health?”</p><p>This wasn’t the first patient who’d been discharged before the medics and nurses thought it appropriate—Nadia was once forced for duty halfway through a three week recovery period because her expertise in precision flying was needed—but those old farts always signed executive decisions against medical advice. Yes, the medics had to sign off on clearance too, but they were always pressured so it wasn’t like they really had a choice to refuse the matter. Not to mention, going against Admiral Sanda’s wishes tended to get you on her shitlist and that likely meant the end of your career at the Garrison.</p><p>“It’s not fair,” she conceded with a sigh.</p><p>Especially with the realisation that once she patched him up here, he’d probably be going home to start mission prep, and then he’d leave for his yearlong mission, and she wanted more time with him here.</p><p>“I worked hard to make sure my arm wouldn’t be a liability. I won’t let anyone get the jump on me, Katie. And even if they did, I have other tricks up my sleeve to fight them off,” Lance said far too astutely, figuring out part of her concern without prompting. “And anyway, who’s going to try to mess with me when my arm looks this kick ass? Like a yakuza sleeve tattoo. A patchy purple and red bruised looking one, but still a badass scar, no less.”</p><p>She hummed, absentmindedly tracing the damaged skin where it tapered off on the top of his hand, up his forearm, along his shoulder where it petered away, fading as if disappearing into his skin. His skin was pretty smooth all things considered, though some parts felt stiff since multiple layers of skin had gotten affected by the radiation. The way the moonlight bathed his arm almost made it look silver.</p><p>“Still tingling?” she asked, gaze trailing back up to his when he hadn’t said anything in a while.</p><p>“For a different reason…”</p><p>Lance’s dancing eyes looked dangerous in the limited lighting. She could only just make out the lines of his attractive face. The soft quirk of his mouth. The way his eyes never strayed from hers, flustering her. There was a breathless moment where she couldn’t tear her gaze from his and warmth flared under her navel. Where she wanted yet again to wrap her arms around him—and him to hold her—and when his eyes darkened, she wondered if the same thoughts were going through his mind.</p><p>“Did you have fun?” She set her hand on the warm muscle of his abdomen, gently outlining the jagged, fading scar along the base of his ribs. “I can’t imagine having a good time when you suck at something so much. How do you get a golf ball stuck in the mascot’s ass crack anyway? Only you, Lance.”</p><p>“Truth be told, I kinda hate it as much as I hate bowling. But I had a great time.”</p><p>Her brows furrowed in confusion. “Why do something you hate?”</p><p>“Because you like it,” he said simply, his voice soft as he took her wandering hand in his, holding it against his heart. “And I like you.”</p><p>The words hung in the air as she searched his gaze, the only noise filling the space the quiet rattling of the space heater.</p><p>Katie was sure her heart was knocking against her ribcage with how recklessly it was beating.</p><p>“I’ve never met anybody else like you, Katie.” Lance slowly rose to his feet, his other hand cupping her cheek. “…And I’m really gonna miss you.”</p><p>He gently tilted her face up and leaned down to press his lips to hers, caressing hers, her heart skipping beats in her chest. It was both soft and pervasive, making her lightheaded and weak kneed all at once, and more intoxicating than any of their previous kisses. And yet, the warm hand on her face was oh so gentle, his lips on hers soft, and she could feel Lance’s pounding heart in his chest.</p><p>And it hit her all at once that he was truly leaving for a year. No frustrating encounters at the med bay that were secretly a breath of fresh air. No corny jokes that never failed to make her smile. No seeing that bright, unencumbered smile that always made her heart race. For one whole year.</p><p>She admired him, not just because he tried to find the silver lining and bright side in everything, but because he was so noble. Because he cared. Because he effortlessly brought out a part of her she generally didn’t express.</p><p>She was going to miss him immensely.</p><p>It was the first time in so many years she’d truly wanted to connect with someone, spend all her free time with them, set aside her work if it meant being with them.</p><p>And it kind of broke her heart.</p><p>“Come back safely to me…” Katie whispered when he pulled back and rested his forehead on hers, her voice sounding breathless in her ears. “Okay?”</p><p>She drew him back to her again, reclaiming his mouth in an unrestrained kiss, his tongue stroking hers with the barest of touch. Lance’s arms wrapped around her, and she pushed up on her toes, sliding hands up his chest and around his shoulders. Warmth radiated off his skin, making her whole body feel hot, and she clutched onto him, wanting to be as physically close to him as she possibly could be.</p><p>He turned her around, lifting her off the floor and setting her on the table, his hands coming up to hold her face while she held his sides to drag him closer. Her heart caught in her chest when he broke away to trail a path of kisses along her jaw, working his way along her neck before settling at a <em>perfect</em> spot. She tilted her head with a quiet gasp, and damn if Katie didn’t start getting overheated as he sucked on her sensitive skin, his hot breath fanning out on her neck, her face feeling completely like it was on fire and heat rising between her legs.</p><p>“Lance,” she breathed out shakily, hand gripping his hair.</p><p>He hummed against her skin, his lips smiling before he resumed his languid exploration of her neck as he slowly rubbed her thighs. The chaotic jumbled thoughts in her mind made it hard to focus on anything other than Lance’s body heat, the feel of his body pressed against hers, his lips on her neck driving her wild.</p><p>Their mouth’s met each other’s again, heads tilting, discovering each other, their delicate kiss deepening between heady, open-mouthed sucking of tongues and gentle tugs of lips, less time spent apart between each kiss with no hope to catch her breath. She dragged her free hand over the scar along his back, along his shoulders and biceps, up and down his chest, scooting in closer proximity when he nestled in the space her legs left open.</p><p>Katie felt a hard knot against her thigh, thinking it was his towel, but when she shifted and pressed against it, Lance inhaled sharply and broke the kiss, eyes a bit hooded as he stared at her. It took her a few seconds of confused blinking before it dawned on her why he’d reacted like that. And her face turned red.</p><p>“…Oh.”</p><p>“Sorry about, umm… It’s just… you’re so…” He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish chuckle, ears a bit red. “I feel like a pre-pubescent kid again.”</p><p>Honestly, she was flattered.</p><p>And more than that, she felt a buzz of excitement more than anything else.</p><p>She didn’t say anything, taking his hands and bringing them to her waist as she leaned in to capture his lips again. Unspoken understanding passed between them as they kissed, a soft groan of satisfaction leaving Lance’s throat unbidden when this time, she looped her arms around him and deliberately ground her crotch against the bulge behind the towel. His hands dipped under her shirt and tingles spread from the point of contact, a shiver of excitement running up her back as the longing ache between her legs grew. She reached between them and untied the knot of his towel and Lance inhaled sharply, clearly surprised by her bold action.</p><p>The towel drifted to the floor, forgotten.</p><p>And there was a moment where they just blinked at each other, the weight of her actions indicated quite clearly.</p><p>“Katie…” Lance murmured, a blush dusting his cheeks as she smoothed her fingers over his abs, unhurried as she explored his body. She leaned in and nipped at his neck near his Adam’s apple. “Not that I’m trying to… uhh… be presumptuous as to where this seems like it’s headed, but… are— are you sure?”</p><p>She wasn’t totally, considering she’d never done anything close to this before. She was kind of scared of how irrevocably this would change things between them.</p><p>But whether it was because she was emotional or because she’d never felt more connected to Lance, there was no mistake that she wanted to share this with Lance.</p><p>“Do you have a condom?” she asked quietly, fighting off her blush when she glanced down for a moment.</p><p>“…Hunk stuck one in my wallet as a joke. But I didn’t think— I wasn’t trying to…” he tapered away when she nodded in understanding.</p><p>“You should thank Hunk…”</p><p>She smiled bashfully, lower lip caught between her teeth as she looked up. The moment their eyes met, his gaze turned scorching. He scooped her up in his arms before bringing them both on the bed, the box springs of the mattress groaning under their weight. She settled back against the pillow, a little mesmerised as Lance crawled on top of her.</p><p>He leaned down and slid his lips over hers, coaxing her mouth open with his, the intensity of the kiss much more pronounced now that there were no barriers as to where this was headed. She lifted her hips to help him unbutton and slide her pants down her legs. In grabbing the hem to try to lift her blouse off though, she got it caught on her head, and she was momentarily stuck, arms fumbling awkwardly to find their way out of the constraints.</p><p>“A little help here?”</p><p>He let out a devious chuckle. “I don’t know if I want to. First time I’ve ever seen <em>you</em> act like a dork.”</p><p>“Lance—”</p><p>She couldn’t see what he was doing when he shifted on the creaking hospital bed, running his hands along her legs. Katie inhaled sharply when his lips landed on her neck again, this time descending slowly, his languid path down her collarbone and sternum only interrupted by the moments he took to nip at her skin with his teeth and suck on her. He slid one hand under the waistband of her panties and she gasped, which then turned into a shaky moan when his finger slid between her folds and caressed her. Her soft whimpers seemed to embolden him because he continued on his path, licking a stripe along her lower belly before trailing kisses under her encased breasts. She felt his teeth scrape against her as he tugged her bra up with his teeth and circled her nipples with his tongue, alternating one after the other. All the while, dipping his finger inside her, circling her, curling against a sensitive spot and wracking her whole body with a tremble, Katie’s breath nothing but sharp, quick breaths.</p><p>She throbbed with a desperate need for more. It was overwhelming, the sensation pronounced because she couldn’t see anything. She yelped when Lance sucked the underside of her breast hard, pinching it between his teeth in one painful moment before laving the sting with his tongue.</p><p>“Are you…?” Katie panted, arching her back with a shuddering sigh when he palmed her more firmly, lightheaded from the pleasant heat of his hand. “Are you leaving a hickey on my boob?”</p><p>She got her answer in the form of his lips smirking against her chest, and she pushed at him with a laugh until he removed his hand and pulled back to give her some room. She instantly missed the warmth of his hand, but she sat up and worked at her shirt until she got it off of herself with no incident. She removed her bra and hunched, pulling at her chest’s skin to look at the blotchy, red mark. It was definitely going to bruise.</p><p>“This better not be some marking your territory thing,” she muttered, rubbing at the bruising skin. “I’m not a hydrant, Lance.”</p><p>Lance didn’t respond, and when she looked up, she found him staring at her, a corner of his mouth quirked up. She grew a bit embarrassed. It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable with her body, but she’d never been this bare in front of someone before, and Lance was gazing at her with so much wonder—eager and affectionate—that it made her flush.</p><p>“…What?” she finally asked, holding her arm.</p><p>“Just committing you to memory. God, you’re stunning.”</p><p>Warm butterflies danced in her stomach. “…Again with the sappy shit?”</p><p>“Can’t help it. My date is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I can’t help but compliment her,” he countered, playful smirk on his lips when she raised a brow at him for doubling down on the sappiness. “Sorry. My <em>friendly outing</em> person.”</p><p>She glanced away, cheeks feeling hot. “Don’t ruin this by running your mouth, Lance.”</p><p>“I’ve been told my mouth is my best feature.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or at least what it does.”</p><p>Katie snorted, shaking her head as she stared at him. He had an uncanny ability to perk her up with his doofy commentary.</p><p>“I know you’re nervous,” she pointed out, leaning forward to grasp his face with a smile. “I can tell because you’re trying to crack dorky ass jokes.”</p><p>He grimaced. “Yeah… but it’s only because you’re beautiful. And I just feel like I need to impress you or something. Especially since this is your first time, right?”</p><p>“Lance, that’s sweet, but you don’t. This evening with you has already been great. I don’t think there’s anything you could really do to mess that up. And hey, on the bright side, I don’t have anyone to compare this to, so even if you royally screw it up, by default, you’ll be the best I ever had.”</p><p>“Har har…”</p><p>She giggled at the dry expression on his face. “I want to share this with you, Lance. No dorky jokes necessary.”</p><p>Lance held her chin as he dropped a sweet kiss on her lips and then another one that had fire pooling low in her abdomen. He slowly lowered her down on the bed, a bit off balance relying on his right arm and his supporting elbow wobbly. Her panties came off and then Lance took his wallet and pulled out the square foil. There was a nervous anticipation coiling in her stomach after he tore the packaging, slid on his condom, and when he slotted himself between her thighs, lining himself up as he pressed a tender kiss to her lips.</p><p>“Tell me if you want to stop.”</p><p>There was pressure that stung a bit and made her wince when he eased himself slowly inside her, and Lance skimmed his hand up and down her thigh as she adjusted to the intrusion. He held her gaze throughout, watching her carefully as she took all of him. Katie sucked in air through her teeth, fingers drifting up to grasp his shoulders. He peppered soft kisses on her forehead and eyelid, on her nose, the corner of her mouth.</p><p>“You okay?” Lance murmured, kissing her gently.</p><p>“Mmm…”</p><p>Her response was nothing but a low breathy whimper, especially when he pulled back and sank into her again and again, slowly, harsh rush of breath leaving his lips. He cursed under his breath in Spanish, no more than a sexy little growl, the bed creaking a bit the harder his slow thrusts grew. It was pleasant, scattered tingles of pleasure making themselves known as she concentrated on the rigid heat moving rhythmically in her. She splayed her hands on his back, totally red faced and a bit embarrassed by the choked little noises she was making. He let out a weak moan of her name, and Katie relished in it, a sudden spark of searing heat tightening her naval.</p><p>“Okay… consider me impressed,” she gasped out, though with a teasing smile. “No wonder the nurses gifted you magnum condoms.”</p><p>Lance stopped for a moment to let out a startled little laugh and dropped his head on her shoulder. “Jesus… You’re going to be the death of me, Katie Holt.”</p><p>She smoothed a hand through his hair, stroking the soft strands as Lance kissed the skin behind her ear mindlessly. She hadn’t expected this much comfort with his warm skin plastered to hers, but now that she’d gotten so close to him, she really didn’t want to let him go. For a second, she felt a knot in her throat tightening at the realisation.</p><p>“…I’ll write you tons of letters,” Lance said quietly as if reading her mind, his breath tickling her ear as he lightly rocked inside her. “As often as I can. With drawings and puns and poems.”</p><p>“Hmm. Really not looking forward to stupid space mail memes…”</p><p>“Read the moment, Katie,” he replied jokingly, his inflection the exact same as hers when she’d uttered that earlier.</p><p>She grinned. “And more of those dorky poems? Barf.”</p><p>He lifted his head, eyes narrowed as he levelled her with a dark, warning look that made her breath catch. She opened her mouth to continue, only it came out as a breathless sharp intake because he snapped his hips harder and focused, electric pleasure bloomed where they were joined. Katie dug her fingers into his back, heart stuttering in its beat, closing her eyes as the sensation swelled, a coil low in her abdomen throbbing and starting to tighten.</p><p>There.</p><p>Right there.</p><p>And everything <em>burned</em>.</p><p>“<em>Oh</em>…” she moaned, lifting her legs to wrap around Lance’s waist and angling her hips to take in more of him as he buried himself deeper in her.</p><p>“Didn’t quite catch that, Katie.” He grunted, slamming his hips hard, and she arched her back, trembling from the unexpected, unbelievable rush of lightning-sharp ecstasy. “I think you mean: I’d love to receive your memes and poems, Lance. Nothing would make me happier.”</p><p>“Stop it…” she tried to say, though it turned into a high-pitched whimper from another hard thrust.</p><p>“Stop moving?” Lance teased with a smirk, going still.</p><p>“Lance,” she whined, glowering at him. “You’re such a dork. I’m giving you fail marks for this performance.”</p><p>“I can live with that. I’m still the best you’ve ever had, after all.”</p><p>“Stop using my own words against me!”</p><p>He chuckled at that and as it tapered away, his smile softened and he stroked her face, his touch faint, but oh so tender it made her flush deepen.</p><p>“I know I’ll be gone a year, but… is it selfish that I want to ask you to wait for me?”</p><p>“Yes… and no,” she murmured, skating the fingers of her hand along his jaw, committing his face to memory because a year was going to be a hell of a long time not seeing him. “You better come back in one piece. If you’re injured, I’ll kick your ass. And I can’t treat you out in space, so… don’t get hurt.”</p><p>Lance turned his head a bit and kissed her palm. “I promise, <em>hermosa.</em>”</p><p>She brought his mouth back to hers in an intoxicating, mindnumbing kiss that made her dizzy. Lance started moving again, at a faster pace than before and she could hardly bite back a moan as her breath hitched. The bed creaked more, louder, the only other sound their needy sighs coupled with errant moans and shuddering gasps. Her head dropped back on the pillow, breath quickening from the intensity of the pressure building in her. He was precise in his motions, left hand grasping the low metal frame to hold his balance, his other grasping her hip as he rutted methodically, deeply, in and out of her in such a perfect rhythm and catching a perfect spot her toes curled in pure bliss and nails raked along his back.</p><p>And Katie clung to him, making the best of the time together they had left.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>VI</p><p> </p><p>“Ow, ow, owie!”</p><p>“Hold still, please,” Katie grumbled as she took out the soaked cotton from Ezor’s nose, tilting the alien’s head up so Katie’s headlight could shine on the interior of the nose she was inspecting.</p><p>Just as the X-ray had shown, the red alien’s nose was displaced, but there were no dislodged fragments requiring a trip to the OR to repair. Aside from the bruising and swelling, Katie could see the indentation off her bone having moved from its proper place. The exterior appearance of her nose wasn’t so deformed that she could visibly see profound damage, but the fact that she had said she couldn’t breathe out of one nostril was all the proof Katie needed that it had to be fixed. At least she wasn’t experiencing changes in her vision or malocclusion of her teeth. All in all, it was a clean break so it would be a pretty easy fix.</p><p>She’d apparently gotten in some bar fight on an outlaw planet when investigating some recent uprisings in space. Ryan and James had apparently rescued her and her partner to bring to Earth, but not without some damage done to her. This type of injury was usually relegated to other medics who had also studied alien anatomy, but the half-Galran pair spoke a more ancient dialect of Galran that the translators wouldn’t be able to translate well. Plus, the two aliens were willing to provide the Garrison with some information on the suspicious happenings in space, so it was only right that they helped them out.</p><p>“You have a c-shaped deformity,” Katie confirmed, before glancing at the training nurse behind her and saying in English: “Can you prepare straightening forceps and 1% lidocaine in 1:100000 epinephrine for a closed reduction, please?”</p><p>The nurse walked out with a nod, and Katie finished off the inspection of the alien’s nose with careful motions. It wasn’t a grave injury and thankfully there’d been no bleeding or loss of consciousness after it happened.</p><p>“What does that mean?” the red alien asked, wrinkling her nose and twitching it after Katie let her go to prepare for the procedure.</p><p>“It means your septum is sideways, and I’m going to straighten it out manually.”</p><p>“Wait, like force it?” She looked alarmed, sitting up from the tilted back chair though her burly companion put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down.</p><p>“It’s the only way to go about this, unless you want an operation, but that comes with its own problems since we don’t know how you’ll respond to human anaesthesia and short of using a horse tranquiliser, I don’t think we’ll be able to put you to sleep.”</p><p>The nurse returned with the requested items, and Katie walked over to her to start her task.</p><p>“Urgh, I was hoping it wouldn’t be anything that had to be fixed…”</p><p>“I mean…” Katie took the small bottle of lidocaine and inserted the syringe in the rubber, pulling up an appropriate amount, “this wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t acting foolish trying to do a backflip to hit a guy <em>and</em> missed <em>and</em> <em>then</em> got kicked in the face. Why didn’t you just counter normally? Sometimes you patients can be so dumb…”</p><p>“Hey! What’s with this abrasive bedside manner! You’re being unpleasant to a poor, injured patient!”</p><p>The comment took Katie aback, and she froze for a moment, the familiarity of the statement making her pause. She blinked and cleared her throat, moving back to the alien and holding her chin to keep her still.</p><p>“I’m not the coddling type, unfortunately.” Katie smiled to herself as she administered the lidocaine, pressing the needle into her skin just above her cheekbone before switching to the next side of her face. Once done, she grabbed the forceps and moved her headlight so she could see into her nose again. “Also, you brought this injury on yourself.”</p><p>Her girlfriend chuckled. “Ezor was defending my honour. Although I definitely agree about her being dumb.”</p><p>“And I would do it again in a heartbeat, Zeth.”</p><p>The loving smile the two of them shared was heartwarming, but Katie had to interrupt the moment. She had a job to do. Ezor groaned when Katie slid the tongs of the forceps into both nasal cavities and arranged them on each side of her septum, putting the slightest amount of pressure.</p><p>“Alright Ezor,” Katie clamped the forceps more firmly, getting a good grip and grasping Ezor’s face to keep it still when she felt her jerk. “I gave you some human anaesthetic, but given your body’s Galran composition, it’s going to pass through and fade in about a dobosh. It’s also not as effective on your body, so you’ll probably be feeling this a bit. We don’t have anything stronger unfortunately, so we have to do this fast. Take a deep breath and hold it for me.”</p><p>Ezor did so, squeezing her eyes shut, and without prelude, Katie carefully snapped her septum back in place, the crunch and cracking noise making a shiver run down her back. She had to force herself not to wince. Ezor yelped, jumped a bit, but then she moaned in relief, exclaiming she could breathe again. Katie removed the forceps and inspected her nose again carefully. It looked right as rain, no disfiguration or coagulated blood.</p><p>She disposed of the supplies before taking off the headlight and putting it in her coat’s pocket.</p><p>“Try to avoid blowing your nose or sustaining any additional trauma to your nose. It’ll be six weeks before it’ll be fully healed, so keep that in mind before you start up on some antics,” she explained as she tossed her gloves. “We’ll get repeat imaging of your face in a bit to make sure the fracture has resolved. You might have a dull ache in the meantime. Make sure to let the nurse know if you need anything. Feel free to stay as long as you need to until you’re ready to move.”</p><p>“Thanks, Doc,” Zethrid said, idly stroking Ezor’s cheek as she chuckled at her girlfriend’s doofy grin. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into any stupid shit.”</p><p>Katie gave them both a perfunctory nod before leaving the room with her tablet and heading back to the nurse’s station to prep for her last patient of the day. She was playing backup since one of the medics had some anniversary thing to go to, but honestly, Katie just wanted to be in her lab reviewing the completed trials for the Daibazaal lilies so she could write the research paper with her mother for publishing. She also had some stuff left to read for one of her classes in her PhD programme. She was caught up on her work for the most part and first year wasn’t difficult since she was primarily focused on researching for possible thesis topics, but even so, she wanted to occupy her mind with something more challenging so she could stop thinking of the current source of her melancholy.</p><p>She approached the nurse’s station, and Merla was seemingly waiting for her because the smile on her face when she saw her grew.</p><p>“Katie—”</p><p>“Let me guess,” Katie said dryly as she put her tablet back in its charging port, “you’re switching out my last patient of the day with somebody difficult.”</p><p>“New request for walk-in apparently. Haven’t opened this one yet.” She didn’t even try to look sheepish as she handed the tablet over to Katie. “Said they felt faint during training.”</p><p>Katie rolled her eyes at that ridiculous excuse. Nine times out of ten, it was some damn cadet trying to play hookie so they could get out of PT. And nine times out of ten, eating a banana and going about their day would resolve the issue.</p><p>“And they actually requested <em>you</em> in making the appointment and specified that they refused to get help from anyone else.”</p><p>Katie’s gaze shot up to Merla’s in surprise at that. She didn’t dare want to give herself hope, but she couldn’t help the way her stomach flipped for a second. Merla—and the other nurses loitering around the station—were watching her reaction not so inconspicuously as she pulled up the chart with baited breath.</p><p>It was Nadia.</p><p>She couldn’t deny the frustration and disappointment in her chest, and judging by the way some of the nurses glanced at each other and one even sighed dejectedly, she knew they were probably feeling the same way. One of the longtime nurses walked by Katie on her way to her own patient, setting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a soft, supportive smile. One by one, the nurses dispersed while showing her similar sentiments until Katie and Merla were left.</p><p>“I was really hoping it would be him,” Merla offered, the closest thing to an apology she would give at the moment.</p><p>Katie gave her a not-quite smile before averting her gaze to a ladybug on the leaf of the decorative bonsai tree. “I should stop setting myself up for disappointment.”</p><p>“Katie…”</p><p>She straightened up and steeled her neutral expression back in place. “No matter. Get her roomed, and I’ll see what’s going on with her.”</p><p>While Katie waited, she finished off Ezor’s procedure notes and then put in an order for the CT scan. Once Nadia’s note stated she was ready, Katie ambled to the room and opened the door to Nadia rolling lazily around the room on the rolling stool.</p><p>“Seriously?” she said as she walked in with a raised brow. “Riz, this stopped being funny nine months ago.”</p><p>“What? Lance asked me to give you hell so you don’t get complacent. Gotta keep you on your toes.”</p><p>“He said every once in a while, not every week. Stop this bullshit.” Katie glowered at her as she laughed. It was something stupid Lance had requested Nadia do in one of his first letters sent home to apparently remind Katie of his visits even though he couldn’t visit her. Katie had purported it to be a joke, but Nadia took it seriously and had been devoted to messing with her pretty much since Lance left. As much as Katie wanted to be annoyed with her, she’d been missing Lance since the moment he left a year ago, and Nadia’s untimely interruptions were a pleasant reminder of his goofy antics. “Are you actually injured?”</p><p>“Yes. My heart is wounded that you’re treating me so.” Katie turned to leave with a blank look, and Nadia quickly stood up to stop her. “Aww, wait hold on a bit! Just came to check on you and make sure you’ve eaten and all. You didn’t come home yesterday, so I’m assuming you’ve been in the office working all night. Been busy today?”</p><p>“Fixed a broken nose and made the rounds, so not really.”</p><p>“So that’s what that scream was earlier? That sounded like it hurt like hell.”</p><p>“It probably did.”</p><p>“Damn. You’re ice cold.” Nadia pretended to shiver with a grin. “I’m scared to have you patch me up.”</p><p>“Don’t break your nose, and you won’t,” she quipped.</p><p>“Nice to see your sarcasm is still intact.” Nadia’s smile softened, and she dropped all pretences of joking as she stuffed her hands in her uniform pants pockets. “I actually came to let you know of some rumours I overheard. They’re going to announce it as pilot error.”</p><p>“I know. My dad told me.” Katie frowned, displeased of the reminder of what the Garrison’s fucked up admin was planning on doing. “He’s been fighting that decision, but it’s over his head when the rest are deadset on picking someone to blame to close out this case. I get it. They want to give people some type of catharsis, but why at the expense of Lance’s career? I just know they’re going to try to spin it as him being inexperienced as a fighter pilot and unable to handle the pressure. It’s super shitty when he worked so damn hard to even get to this point in the first place. Especially when he’s not even here to defend himself!”</p><p>She cut off abruptly when a well of emotion started building in her chest. Katie forced it down, though from the astute look on her friend’s face, she knew where her mind had gone.</p><p>“…How about we take you out to dinner tonight? Ina found this Greek place half an hour’s drive from here. What do you say?”</p><p>“We went to dinner last week. You don’t have to—”</p><p>“Your boyfriend’s gone, Katie, and you’re hurting,” Nadia responded, undeterred. “So yes, I do. And then we’re going out for ice cream.”</p><p>She sighed, deciding she had no energy to argue with Nadia who refused to take no for an answer anyway. “If I have some time today. I want to get work done though.”</p><p>“I’m giving you until seven. Text me when you’re done with work, kay?”</p><p>Katie gave her an absent nod and thumbs-up as she left the room. She headed back to the nurse’s station, currently occupied by only the receptionist who greeted Katie with a sad smile. She knew they cared about how she was handling things, but the constant, daily condolences and check-ins were starting to get on her nerves.</p><p>“Any news on Lance?”</p><p>“Not yet…” Katie responded with a tight smile, her chest feeling tight. She set the tablet down in its port and then ran a hand through her hair, flattening out the short strands that had started sticking up. “Can you let Merla know I’m taking a quick break, please?”</p><p>“Sure thing.”</p><p>Katie headed out of the front doors of the med bay to get some air and was blasted by a wave of cold air that had her blowing out visible little tufts of breath. A freak snowstorm a few weeks ago had brought on a cold front that made everyone bring back out their previously retired winter clothing. This time last year, the weather had been cold, but tolerable.</p><p>And this time last year, Katie had been optimistic that Lance’s mission would go smoothly, that he’d come back to her safely, alive and well.</p><p>Katie sat on one of the benches outside and pulled out his last letter from her lab coat’s pocket, one Hunk had apparently received yesterday though the postmarked date was a month before Lance’s return date. It was addressed to her and Hunk had passed it along to Keith who’d brought it to her en route to checking up on Shiro’s arm’s tune-up. And she’d been dwelling on it quite a bit.</p><p>
  <em>Quick update this time, Katie cat! I don’t have time to write to you properly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Things are going well on our end. The end of the mission is in sight. I can’t give you too many details, but there’s some chatter of insurgents possible attacking during transport. So we’re preparing for battle, and quite possibly war? Though I hope not. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>But as soon as I get back, I’m planting a big wet juicy kiss on your lips, voyeurs be damned so you’d better be somewhere private if you don’t want the world to watch me sweep you off your feet. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oooh and I named some star after you. It was green and little. And <span class="u">hot</span>. haha get it?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m exhausted. I miss you so much. I’ve gotten crewmates to call me a dork, but it just doesn’t hit the same. The way you say it is special. This mission has gone on so long it feels so weird to finally be in the home stretch. We’re leaving in a movement, although by the time you get this letter I’ll probably have already been back on Earth so this letter is kind of useless. Either way, can’t wait to see your face and hold you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m coming straight home to you, Katie.</em>
</p><p>But he hadn’t.</p><p>Katie chewed on her thumbnail, scrutinising the first paragraph again for the thousandth time in hopes that maybe something might stand out to her. There was nothing out of the ordinary, and no matter how long she’d read it and reread it and analysed it and all his previously letters for possible code until the letters swam in her eyes, there was no indication that he was trying to tell her something. Nothing had suggested something amiss or foul play. The other crews who had returned reported no attacks either during transport, so it was a complete mystery why Lance’s ship was gone.</p><p>Her father had told her most of the admirals decided to vote to label the missing crew as pilot error by the three month mark if they didn’t find them. And it was infuriating.</p><p>Lance had busted his ass to be where he was now, and it wouldn’t be fair to destroy his hard-earned legacy with a callous choice of blame. It was disgusting and made her sick. How could they award him a medal for bravery and then turn around the next year and try to trash his efforts? Katie wouldn’t stand for it, and this went beyond her personal connection to him. No one deserved something like pilot error from a freak occurrence like that slandering their name.</p><p>Yes, she didn’t know what had happened to the crew, nobody did, so of course that pointed to Lance as possibly culpable, but that didn’t give the admirals the right to ruin his career.</p><p>Even “posthumously”, which she staunchly refused to believe was the case.</p><p>Katie would never forget the day she was called to a meeting with Veronica and Hunk and other members of Lance’s family two months ago only for Admiral Sablan to tell them Lance’s crew vanished while guarding the transreality comet being transported. Just vanished. Disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye like they were never in existence. No one knew what had even happened. One second, the comet was humming and pulsing, the next, Lance’s ship was gone.</p><p>It almost felt like a bad joke in some ways, like any second he would suddenly pop up in one of the med bay rooms with a goofy grin asking for treatment for a fake injury.</p><p>But it wasn’t some bad dream.</p><p>Lance was missing, no search parties had been successful in finding anything out, and the more days went by, the more everyone started losing hope that he or his crew would return. The Space Alliance had scouts working on the case, but they were largely unsuccessful. Hunk had contacted her a couple times to update her on anything he’d heard, and Katie had been in contact with Veronica too, who was the first person to reach out to her with how she was handling the news. While she could still see the hope in everyone’s gazes, it was only a matter of time before people started moving on and expecting those of them who’d been left behind to move on at the same pace.</p><p>Honestly, she was just glad she was considered someone important enough to Lance to be updated regularly on the circumstances. She wasn’t his <em>official</em> girlfriend, per se, but last year’s little friendly outing adventure had spread rumours fast that they were together so she was referred to as such. And she didn’t particularly object to it because she wasn’t really sure what she’d call him then. He used <em>suitor</em>, but she found that weird. But it did feel like he’d gotten ripped away before they could fully delve into their burgeoning relationship.</p><p>Katie was working her ass off to keep her mind off of it, but she was on edge. She had been for about two months now, but thankfully no one had been bugging her about her sour mood. But each day he remained gone was another day Katie’s heart broke further. She wasn’t the crying type at all, but his absence was a sore weight in her chest that wouldn’t dislodge and she was starting to approach a breakdown.</p><p>She stood up to get back to work when her pager beeped, slipping the note back in her pocket as she headed back in to get to the lab and get the requested decontaminant for two patients. She grabbed two bottles from their glass storage and then headed back upstairs, distracted as she pondered how much things had taken a turn for the strange in the past few weeks.</p><p>And it wasn’t just her that was on edge. Altea had gotten attacked shortly after locking up the comet in a secure facility. There was noise that a war was brewing in space. There’d been more uprisings from some perturbed Galran factions recently calling for Zarkon to be deposed. And a Balmera had gotten attacked with rumours of a Galran with a red glass eye being the perpetrator. Relations were tense with the Space Alliance trying to maintain balance with so many exterior planets who didn’t believe the current leaders were fit to manage space. Allura was up to her neck in diplomacy with the other leaders. Katie wished there was more they could do for the princess after all the help she’d given them, but at the moment, the best the Garrison could do was promise to help if things came down to war. Tensions had risen so badly that Merla was considering returning to Altea if they needed a combat nurse on the frontlines. Which many of them also didn’t want to think about because she was such a significant and perfect leader in their med bay. Finding her replacement would be hard.</p><p>Katie stopped by the front station as she held up and slightly shook the two bottles in her hands. “Which rooms for the decontamination?”</p><p>“Just 11 and 13 tonight,” the nurse said through a yawn as he tugged on his coat. “I think Merla needs lab results of some analysed tissue samples too. Find her after this. I’ll see you tomorrow, Katie. Thanks for all your help.”</p><p>She bid him goodnight and went off to the rooms to get her job done. It went quickly, with Katie explaining the purpose and procedure to the two pilots settling in for their twenty-four hour stay in the hospital and providing them their decontaminant before heading back to the nurse’s station to update charts and wait for Merla.</p><p>Her mind drifted to Lance again and her best solutions for the dilemma at this point in time as she leaned absentmindedly against the front. She refused to let the admirals go through with this, but that meant she might have to take some drastic measures. It’d been a while since she’d broken into offices, but maybe it was time to run true to form and try to see if she could find more information to track Lance down herself.</p><p>The med bay doors opened behind her, letting in a blast of cool air, and she tugged her coat tighter around her, though she tried to pay it no mind.</p><p>She would need to get the full report including coordinates of where they’d vanished, and while the cutesy act with her father used to work when she was trying to drag information out of him as a kid, she wasn’t sure it would work now. Either way, there was no time, and she had to get that information.</p><p>Tonight.</p><p>“Katie…?”</p><p>“Holy shit…” a nurse nearby her whispered.</p><p>Katie frowned as she tapped her nails on the counter, wondering if she could use her nano tech somehow to track Lance down. She had samples of his tissue with the nanotech. Maybe she could try to make some kind of tracker. It would take a bit of time she didn’t really have, but Hunk was a savvy engineer. She might be able to get him on board. She’d probably have to use personal days leave and maybe see if Keith could fly her off to space to see if she can find Lance. It was a tall order, but she’d sat around and waited on things with Lance more than once, and more than once, it’d bitten her in the ass. It was time to act, figure this out herself even if she had to run herself ragged running around in space to find him.</p><p>“Katie!”</p><p>Her head snapped up at the voice, and when she spun towards the entrance, eyes wide, her breath hitched in her chest because she could not believe who she was seeing.</p><p>“…Lance?”</p><p>For a second, there was a part of her wondering if she was having a sleep-deprived hallucination. But Lance was standing there with four other people, all of them looking scraggly with unkempt beards and hair, looking deeply exhausted, bags under their eyes, complexions ashen, and weeks old grime on their tattered, sweat-stained clothes.</p><p>Lance looked so relieved, his eyes glassy as he smiled breathlessly at her. “It’s really you.”</p><p>“Lance, what…”</p><p>She took only two steps towards him before he broke from the group despite their issued mission-handler’s protest, walked forward with purpose, and gathered her in his arms to engulf her in a deep hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her. He wrapped his arms tight around her as if she would fade away if he didn’t, practically pulling her off her feet, and buried his face in her neck as he laughed and spun her around. Katie’s eyes stung with tears as she hugged him back, heart thundering in her chest because it was really him.</p><p>“I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry,” he murmured, shaking shoulders hunched, his voice muffled in her skin.</p><p>She swallowed hard around the tight knot in her throat, still a little shellshocked as she relished in his presence. His soft, incredulous, awed laughter. His breath tickling her neck and bushy beard scratching at her skin. Lance smelled like stagnant layers of B.O. and unwashed sweat and the stench kind of made her stomach roll, but she ignored it because she was in his arms again and she hadn’t realised how much she truly needed that. It was unbelievable and she didn’t know where he’d come from, but after such a long period of uncertainty and apprehension, the all-encompassing relief and elation left her feeling shaky, like she was on the verge of bursting into tears.</p><p>And then hit her all at once that they were in the lobby of the med bay where medics, nurses, patients, and visitors were all present. It was completely silent. She pulled a little back in surprise, Lance seemingly registering where they were at the same time. Nurses and other medics were tittering to each other, Merla had her lips folded in, watching with interest, patients being transported were watching with smiles.</p><p>The crew’s handler cleared his throat, looking away politely to give them some privacy. “Lieutenant, we need to decontaminate and debrief you.”</p><p>“Umm…” Katie tried to step back, though Lance had his arms wound around her back and wouldn’t let her go. She pushed a bit on his chest, but he refused to budge. “I can help with the decontamination process if you need it.”</p><p>“Considering we will be discussing classified mission details during it, I’m afraid we cannot allow you to be present during debriefing. It shouldn’t take longer than an hour. Lieutenant. If you will.”</p><p>Lance largely ignored the handler, gazing down at her with a sense of wonder and awe as if he couldn’t believe he was truly standing in front of her, holding her, satisfaction in his bright smile as if he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.</p><p>Katie’s cheeks felt hot. “He’s calling for you, Lance.”</p><p>“I told you I was coming home straight to you.”</p><p>Lance stroked her cheek, gaze centred on her and her alone, everyone else invisible to him. He was going to kiss her, spectators be damned—she could see it in his eyes—but a wave of nervousness struck her and eyes wide, she planted a hand over his mouth. Yes, everyone already knew about their relationship in no small part due to their rendezvous in the hospital last year, but she wanted to keep this moment—her reunion with him—private, just for them. He blinked at her, but behind the confusion she could see amusement and understanding.</p><p>“You… uh, you should get decontaminated first, Lance. You need a shower too,” she muttered, averting her eyes from the shimmering blue for a moment.</p><p>He nodded, taking the hand on his mouth in his and kissing the top of it. “Later then.”</p><p>He still didn’t move though, their gazes locked and Katie’s pulse thrumming rapidly in her ear.</p><p>“Let’s get you all checked into a room, shall we?” Merla said, quietly interrupting as she passed Katie a sly smile. “Come along, Lance.”</p><p>The handler and the crew followed behind Merla as she headed further in the med bay, and only then did Lance let go of Katie and follow as well, though he walked backwards at first and held on to her hand as long as he could until they could hold on no longer. Katie stood there for a long moment after he’d rounded the corner, breathing sounding choppy in her own ears. People were still staring at her, but all she could think about was how Lance had reappeared in her life like a whirlwind after all these months of despairing from possibly losing him.</p><p>Almost on autopilot, she finally turned on her heel to head downstairs to her lab, feeling like she needed the privacy to cry or scream or <em>something</em> because she couldn’t tell what this emotion bubbling up in her chest was that made her feel like she was simultaneously about to soar or crumble to her feet. She needed to process it in her lonesome.</p><p>Her hands were shaking by the time she got to her office and she messed up getting her code in more than once, and though she started up on some work in hopes it would help calm her down, she couldn’t find it in her to focus.</p><p>Lance was back.</p><p>He was really back.</p><p>Safe and alive, just as he’d promised.</p><p>And it made her so happy she started laughing to herself, eyes pooling with tears until her laughter turned into soft sobs of relief.</p><p>She didn’t know how long she sat in her office crying and laughing and completely out of it, but news had travelled fast, and it wasn’t long before she got texts with details from multiple people explaining that Lance and his crew had gotten caught in a wormhole in between multiple dimensions because of the instability of the transreality comet, used up the rest of their fuel to get out of it, and spent weeks hitchhiking across the galaxy to work their way back to Earth.</p><p>Her father sent her an email informing her because of Lance’s successful return with the safety of his crew, he’d convinced the other admirals to drop the pilot error story. They were moving forward with his accelerated advancement to captain. And it made Katie’s nose wrinkle in disgust. Hypocrites, the lot of them. They’d been ready to throw him under the bus at the slightest hint of trouble. Lance fully deserved his promotion, but the honour being bestowed was soured by the knowledge that some of these admirals clearly saw their pilots as disposable tools.</p><p>And then Merla sent her a text letting her know Lance had a psych eval in one hour, and he’d be interrogated again by Garrison officials for the second part of his debriefing, and would likely be debriefed the rest of the night.</p><p>He wasn’t <em>technically</em> supposed to speak to anyone until they’d closed out the mission, but it wasn’t like anyone else was going to be occupying his room for a whole hour.</p><p>(And then closed out the text with some cheeky message that she didn’t recommend any activities that made significant noise).</p><p>But Katie got the gist.</p><p>She swiped at her eyes and hurried out of her office to see Lance, not even bothering to grab anything to pretend to be giving him a check-up. Her heart was hammering in her chest and a quick run to the bathroom revealed her face was still a permanent shade of red despite her efforts to compose herself.</p><p>Her palms were sweaty as she approached the room, and she had a feeling it was because she wasn’t sure what was coming next with Lance. But she was certain that there would be no back stepping after this. After nearly losing each other, she was sure they were going to surge forward, and that was the part that was unknown and nervewracking. <em>That</em> was the part that made her anxious because she’d never gotten to this point in previous sorry excuses for relationships, and she didn’t know how to navigate any of this.</p><p>She didn’t know how to navigate falling in love, though going through it with Lance made it less scary.</p><p>But what she did know was that she and Lance needed to have a chat about his disappearance.</p><p>She was buzzing with energy as she pushed open his room door, peeking in carefully to make sure none of the Garrison officials were inside. Lance was on his own, though clearly expecting her, soft affection reserved for her and only her permeating his gaze, and her cheeks flushed as she shut the door behind her back. He was in the hospital’s standard issue pyjamas, though he’d shed the top in favour of a tank. It’d been a while since she’d checked his arm, but just like he’d explained in his letters, he’d gotten back about 99% of his range of motion, though the redness of his skin seemed like it would remain for life. Looking at him though, she could see healing scratches on his skin and resolving bruising on his face.</p><p>And then she saw just how much Lance needed a haircut because the man bun on his head was not a look that worked for him. Though the beard, he’d shaved down and trimmed up and that? That looked really nice.</p><p>She started laughing about his hair, and it broke some of the tension, though Lance frowned, a slight pout on his lips as she walked over to him. She ran her hand gently through his hair and tugged at the bun. He smelled clean and fresh, his skin and hair vibrant and soft, and there was a part of her that wanted to inhale deeply.</p><p>“You walk in and see me and you laugh? Jeez, what a way to chip at a guy’s self-confidence.”</p><p>She snickered. “You need a haircut.”</p><p>“Give me a break. I’ve been stuck in space for ages.” Lance grinned up at her, leaning into her touch when she brought her hand down to cup his cheek. “So what excuse did you use to come treat me? The I feel faint one? I can definitely pretend so you don’t get in trouble.”</p><p>“Not here to examine you, actually. Plus Nadia already used that today.”</p><p>“Dammit. She stole my thunder.”</p><p>Katie stroked his cheek, the comfort at being able to see him and talk to him and touch him spreading warmth through her. “Honestly, I’ll still see you regardless of if you have some crazy story, so you don’t have to do that anymore, Lance.”</p><p>“Well, I’m sure, but…” He waggled his eyebrows. “Sometimes a guy just wants to flirt with his cute medic, you know?”</p><p>“Sounds like that guy needs to be smothered by a pillow, to be honest…”</p><p>“I’d rather I was smothered by your lips instead.”</p><p>Katie made a face. “Ten seconds in and you’ve already made this an unbearable conversation, you dork.”</p><p>“<em>Finally</em>.” Lance joked, putting his hand on his heart in relief. “Been waiting for that one. Call me a moron or idiot next.”</p><p>“Lance, are you an M? Tell the truth.”</p><p>He chuckled. “How much time do I have with you?”</p><p>“An hour until your evaluations. I have some tentative dinner plans, but I'm pretty much free for the rest of the night.”</p><p>“You’re off your shift? I’m touched that you spared some time and risked getting in trouble for this little old lieutenant.”</p><p>“Captain, soon actually, decided about half an hour ago,” Katie corrected, taking enjoyment in the comical way Lance’s expression slowly changed from confusion to wide eyed, brows rising high on his forehead. “Don’t celebrate early though. It’s classified.”</p><p>“Are you… joking right now because…”</p><p>“My dad told me. They’ve actually been considering you for promotion since last year. You’ve definitely earned it.”</p><p>And sure, she was breaking some rules by revealing that information to him, but after what the council had been about to do to him, she didn’t give a damn. Plus, Lance’s flabbergasted expression was absolutely adorable. She’d dropped a bomb on him. He seemed to be struggling to figure out words to say, but then cleared his throat and straightened out the shock on his face.</p><p>“…Stuck as a cargo pilot lieutenant, huh?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“When we met again,” he said, looking far too smug for his own good, “you said and I quote, that I was the failure of my class stuck as a cargo pilot lieutenant. Looks like I proved you wrong. Meaning, I think you <em>really</em> owe me an apology now.”</p><p>“That was <em>two years ago</em>.” She rolled her eyes, though her lips twitched with a smile at the expectant look on his face. “Hold a grudge much?”</p><p>“Yeah. Held that grudge so long it actually fuelled my effort to switch to fighter pilot and become a captain one day. But you know, I wouldn’t have held onto it if you had just apologised properly. But since I’m back now we have all the time in the world for you to apologise and now would be a good time so…”</p><p>“Yeah, you are back…” she repeated, lips pursing.</p><p>Katie flicked Lance on the forehead, and he recoiled back, rubbing his face with a look of surprise.</p><p>“Hey! What the hell?”</p><p>“What is <em>wrong</em> with you?”</p><p>“Sorry! I thought you’d think it was cute—”</p><p>“You missed your return date by <em>nine</em> weeks, Lance! This whole time you were trying to return to Earth, you didn’t think to send out some mail or <em>something</em> to let us know you were okay?! Yes, okay, I get it! You were travelling without provisions or ships and stranded in space, but you didn’t think of even sending a message to Space Alliance communication beacons for transmittance to Earth?!” She quieted abruptly, her lower lip trembling as her voice wavered from the growing lump in her throat. “Why are you acting all nonchalant? No one could find you for months, you idiot…”</p><p>His gaze sobered, stricken with remorse as he tugged her forward to stand between his legs. Katie wrapped him up in a hug, resting her cheek on his hair and trying to calm herself down by reminding herself that she had found him again, that he was real, real and safe and alive. It was surreal, his absence for the past year only reminding her just how deeply important he was to her. She hadn’t felt at peace for months and just talking to Lance had made all of that melt away in a matter of seconds.</p><p>“It’s been a hard year without you around on its own and then this? Lance, I thought you were…”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her shoulder. “Would never do that to you.”</p><p>“I told you not to get hurt.”</p><p>“Technically, I didn’t. At least, not in our dimension anyway,” he said playfully, thumbs making tiny circles on her waist as he beamed up at her.</p><p>She leaned back from him, sniffling and wiping at her wet eyes. “Were you really in an alternate dimension?”</p><p>“Yeah. The comet transported us. Oh, <em>but</em> before that happened, our entourage took a rest on our way back to Altea, and we ended up meeting space mermaids!”</p><p>“Really,” she drawled, deadpan look on her face.</p><p>“Yes, <em>really</em>. Planet Mer. They exist,” he responded smugly. “I have pics on my phone so I can show you. I was right.”</p><p>“Wow… I guess there’s a first time for everything.”</p><p>“Still being a sore loser, I see, because if I recall correctly—and I do—I won that bet we made. So I’ve earned the chance to take you on a proper date and wine and dine you.” He gave her a sheepish look. “Although full disclosure, uhh, one of the mermaids kissed me, but I swear I didn’t encourage it, and I would never cheat on you! I’ve got eyes only for you, babe.”</p><p>His loyalty to her even being so far away from each other was sweet.</p><p>“I disagree,” she responded, fingers toying with the hair at the nape of his neck.</p><p>“With what…?”</p><p>“With that bet. Because if I recall correctly—and I do,” she said, mimicking his exact tone, “we never actually agreed to the terms. I do remember mentioning my neurotoxin if you kept it up though… Do you need a reminder?”</p><p>Lance massaged his shoulder with a grimace. “Nothing gets past you, huh…”</p><p>She snorted. “How long were you in the wormhole and other dimension?”</p><p>“Four or five years.” He nodded when her brows shot up. “But time was weird there. It moved fast or something, I don’t know. Hard to keep track. Really threw me for a loop when we got out. It’s going to be a pain in the ass readjusting to time here.”</p><p>“Five years. Wow. What’d you see?”</p><p>“Officially, I saw a version of our world at war, travesty after travesty befalling the people we love.” He messed with the buttons of her lab coat, eyes downcast. “Earth being attacked. People we love dying. Felt like a fever dream, but we couldn’t escape the nightmare.”</p><p>“And unofficially?”</p><p>“I saw a version of <em>you</em>. Still the cranky little gremlin you always are. A scientist. The techie. We, uh… we had kids. Well not <em>me</em> and alt!you. Alt!me and alt!Pidge had kids, and they were crazy about each other, disgusted everyone all the time with their gush love, but apparently alt!me was with Allura before I got with alt!you? And we were part of some team with Shiro and Hunk and Keith too. Flew giant space lions for a war in space? It was absolutely bizarre.” His gaze lifted to hers as he shrugged and Katie’s brows furrowed, wondering how much of this could have been hallucinations due to absolute fatigue from being trapped for so long. But then again, she’d done some research on alternate dimensions in the past, and anything could go since they didn’t follow the rules of the space-time continuum. “Don’t give me that look; I know it sounds crazy, which is why I videotaped what I could and took pics. My phone was damaged in transport out of the wormhole, and the officials confiscated it post-mission to analyse footage, but I figured I could get the data extracted by Hunk once I have it back. We could watch it together on our next date… as long as you’re not still trying to kill me for not getting in contact.”</p><p>“Next date, huh?”</p><p>“In any case,” Lance rose to his feet and slid his arms around her waist, anchoring her to him, adoring smile on his face, “seeing us so happy in that other dimension—seeing another prickly, abrasive version of <em>you</em>—made me miss <em>my</em> Katie. When my crew got out of the wormhole, we busted our asses to get back to Earth as fast as possible. I didn’t really have time to write nor did I know where and when on Earth the wormhole had spit us out. I was terrified space and time had shifted us to a point where I’d lost you. I just wanted to come home to you. And then I saw you and thought maybe we’d gone back in time before we really met because your hair is short, but the clock on the wall was correct and I’d never been so relieved in my life.”</p><p>“This wasn’t a choice. Some space plant ate my hair. Had to start over.”</p><p>“Either way, you’re beautiful.”</p><p>Her heart kicked up in her ribs.</p><p>“…You could have sent a message when you broke atmo,” she said, just to argue, flustered out of her mind.</p><p>“Sorry,” he said softly, not sounding it at all as he leaned down.</p><p>The press of his mouth to hers was warm, gentle, sincere, and he tasted vaguely of toothpaste and the strawberry of the decontaminant formula. It set her in a lightheaded daze, the familiarity of the soft kiss reminding her how much she’d wanted to hold him and him to hold her close—how right she felt in his arms—and just how much she’d been missing his physical presence and the emotions he stirred in her, confusing as they were. It was only after he pulled away that she realised the fingers skimming over his jaw and neck were shaking.</p><p>“Stop trying to distract me from my anger.”</p><p>“I promised you a wet juicy kiss, didn’t I?” he murmured in a low voice.</p><p>He kissed her again, this time more sure, nipping at her bottom lip before deepening it. She matched the urgency, slinging an arm around his shoulders, the other tugging on his tank to press herself as close to him as she could. They held each other tight, wrapped up around and in each other, drinking each other’s presence as their lazy kiss slowed, smiles on their lips each time they broke apart for a moment. He rested his forehead on hers, their noses touching as they swayed slowly in their embrace.</p><p>“You know…” Lance said when their comfortable silence had met its natural conclusion. “It occurs to me that I only have one item left on my bucket list.”</p><p>“Right.” She rolled her eyes, fingers sliding into his hair, though she grinned when she could feel his eyelashes brushing her face. “That drivel about marrying your soulmate.”</p><p>“Marrying you.” A corner of his mouth quirked up. “I'm gonna marry you one day, Katie Holt.”</p><p>Her face flushed at his staunch declaration. “You have to get me to agree to a date first.”</p><p>“Then, will you go on a date with me tonight, Katie? A real date like one you deserve for your first. With dressing up and stuff. I’ll take you somewhere fancy and pay for everything.”</p><p>“You have decontamination all night and testing the rest of the week as your body equilibrates to Earth’s time.”</p><p>“Then next week. Will you go on a date with me?”</p><p>She leaned back a bit, the hand on the back of his neck stroking it softly. “Just so you know, because I honestly wouldn’t put it past you to propose during a first date, if you pull anything of the sort, it won’t be well received.”</p><p>“Give me some credit, Katie.” He looked amused at the prospect. “I’d at least wait until date number two.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t accept a proposal at any point before at least a full month of dating,” she replied with a deadpan look.</p><p>Lance, as usual, was undeterred by her snark. “So you want to get married in a one month. Got it.”</p><p>“That’s not what I said! I’m just specifying it would take me more than one date to really get to know somebody enough to choose to spend the rest of my life with them.” He opened his mouth to respond, shit-eating grin firmly in place, and she cut him off, pushing on his chest to dislodge from him, but he refused to budge. “Stop it! I know what you’re about to say and no, I’m not implying whatever is in your head right now.”</p><p>“Right.” He scrubbed a hand through his beard. “But in your spiel, you never actually said no to the date. So, does that mean…?”</p><p>Lance tapered off, quietly waiting for her response with a raised brow. And she just knew he wasn’t going to say another word until she gave him a reply.</p><p>“…If you pick a place that’s too fancy, I’ll slam the door in your face, Lance,” she muttered, her face rouging as she stared at his collarbone.</p><p>“Understood.”</p><p>She could see Lance’s small smile out of the corner of her eyes, and he reached up and gently grasped her chin, tilting it back up so he could look her in the eye.</p><p>“I know this might be early to say but… I love you,” he whispered, so softly, almost uncertain in revealing it, though she could see the resolve in his gaze. Her eyes went wide, breath catching in her chest for a moment. “And I-I mean, I don’t expect you to say it back until you’re ready, or <em>ever</em> if you don’t feel the same, you know, because maybe you might not, I mean it’s a possibility though I hope that’s not the case, but I do, umm, love you, I mean. I love you, Katie. And I mean, it might seem a bit fast, and hell, I’ve never been in love before, but I know what I’m feeling and this has to be it. What I feel for you. Like nothing in this world could ever break me as long as I’m with you. So I just, uhh, just wanted to let you know. So yeah.”</p><p>“You’re rambling, Lance…” Katie said with a small chuckle, though her heart felt like it was going to lurch right out of her chest.</p><p>“Leave it to me to botch a simple confession like this,” he said with a nervous, sheepish look, cheeks flushed.</p><p>It really was that simple. Just a feeling.</p><p>(One she was pretty sure she felt too).</p><p>But she wasn’t ready to go there yet. She wanted to explore this feeling, this sensation, this connection with Lance a bit more, just to make sense of it all.</p><p>She responded by cradling his jaw and bringing him down into a kiss, hoping he understood that she was trying to convey how much he meant to her. How much she wanted him in her life. How much she was looking forward to what their future together would hold, scary or not.</p><p>His eyes were dancing when she pulled away, and she just knew, gazing up at him, that she would have a hard time ever letting go of Lance McClain, as confusing, annoying, and everything between as he was.</p><p>“You know… we’ve still got half an hour before my psych eval. Wonder what we could do to pass the time…”</p><p>She rolled her eyes with a smile and shut him up by pulling him into another long, mindless kiss.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>
  <span class="u">BONUS:</span>
</p><p>“Do you, Katia Holt, take this man, Lance McClain, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and health, to love and honour, cherish and respect, in good times and…” The officiant tapered off with a confused frown when Lance leaned over and whispered something in his ear. “Uhh, my apologies. To cherish and respect, <i>and</i> apologise to, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto him for as long as you both shall live?”</p><p>If looks could kill, Lance would be six feet under.</p><p>“I don’t. Take that apologise bit out.”</p><p>“C’mon, Katie. It’s not that big a deal.”</p><p>“Don’t think I won’t break off this wedding right here at the altar, Lance. Neurotoxin’s not off the table either, love of my life be damned.”</p><p>“Look, it’s just a clause. All you have to do is say I do—”</p><p>“Take it out. Now.”</p><p>“Oh c’mon!”</p><p>It took three hours to come to some sort of compromise—with plenty of neurotoxin threats thrown about—but by the end of it all, every guest had left the chapel shaking their damn heads. </p><p>(And Lance still never got his apology).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>